Black Tower, 4th Floor

“Block them!”

Clang!

“Down with the bone class system!!!”

At the shout of Sejun’s first hoe, Philip, the skeletons cried out as they saw the Flesh Eaters approaching.

Although all the Flesh Eaters that Michael led were dealt with, their heads were filled with seeds.

When the Flesh Eaters died, those seeds were planted in the ground, and dozens of times more Flesh Eaters appeared than before.

The Dragon Warriors and the skeletons fought with all their might to fend off the Flesh Eaters, but the more they killed, the more they multiplied.

Eventually, they began to be pushed back.

Just as the vineyard was about to be overrun by the Flesh Eaters’ attack,

“Uh… Hello! We are the slaves sent by Theo Park…”

Theo’s new slaves began to arrive one by one.

When Father Rabbit asked to stop sending slaves to his farm, Theo had been sending new slaves to the 4th floor of the Tower.

Thanks to this, the new slaves from Theo kept flowing into the vineyard, maintaining the front line.

***

Black Tower, 99th Floor

“······.”

“Chairman Park, what’s that, meow? It smells delicious, meow!”

Theo asked excitedly, pointing at Sejun, who was cooking while covering his nose with the leaves Flamie gave him.

“Hehe. Vice Chairman Theo, does it smell good?”

“Puhuhut. Yes, meow! It’s a mouth-watering smell, meow!”

Hehe. I knew Theo would like it.

Sejun, who was making eel churu with the eel extract he had received from Zelga, smiled, satisfied with Theo’s reaction.

Since he had completed the quest and received good rewards thanks to Theo, he thought of eel churu as a way to reward him.

In addition, he also grilled fish of various kinds, which Theo liked.

A while later,

“Cuengi, let’s eat!”

Sejun, who had finished preparing dinner, called Cuengi.

Today’s menu was rice, with side dishes of home-cooked meals and grilled fish.

And he placed the eel churu in front of Theo.

“Meow! It’s a cat feast, meow! Chairman Park, thank you, meow!”

Excited by the eel churu and various kinds of grilled fish, Theo thanked Sejun and began to eat.

Theo didn’t ask Sejun why he was being so kind all of a sudden. Puhuhut. I must have done something good again, meow! That’s the kind of cat I am, meow!

Theo confidently received the feast.

At that moment,

Kuehehehe. Kueng!

[Hehehe. It smells delicious!]

Kkihihit. Kking.

‘Hihit. The smell is nice today.’

Cuengi and Fenrir showed interest in Theo’s feast, especially the strongly fishy-smelling eel churu.

Perhaps due to the strong fishy smell of the eel churu, they didn’t show any interest in the other food.

“Puhuhut. I’ll share it, meow!”

Wanting to show off his big brother’s dignity to his younger siblings, Theo put some eel churu in Cuengi and Fenrir’s bowls.

And then,

Chomp chomp chomp.

Kueng!

[It’s really delicious!]

Kking!!!

‘This is super delicious!!!’

Theo, Cuengi, and Fenrir ate the eel churu excitedly. Cuengi and Fenrir ate it with rice.

‘Is it that delicious?’

Seeing the three of them eating, Sejun also became curious about the taste of the eel churu.

So he scooped a bit from the glass jar containing the eel churu and tasted it with his tongue.

“Huh?!”

A savory and umami taste swirled around his tongue. If he just added rice to this…

“Eel rice bowl?”

It was an eel rice bowl without eel. No, to be precise, it was an eel rice bowl without eel flesh.

Since it was made with eel extract from a thousand eels.

Sejun’s hands began to move busily.

Since it was made for Theo to eat, he needed to adjust the seasoning a bit. He added soy sauce, two fried eggs…

“Hehe. Sluurp.”

Wiping the saliva pooling in his mouth, Sejun mixed the ingredients with rice.

[You have achieved the feat of making Eel Extract Bibimbap for the first time in the Tower.]

[The recipe for Eel Extract Bibimbap has been registered at Cooking Lv. 9.]

[Your proficiency of Cooking Lv. 9 has slightly increased.]

The dish was completed.

Before long, the cat feast for Theo turned into a sumptuous grand feast for Sejun. Haha, goodwill is always the best.

Gulp.

It looks delicious.

Seeing the glossy rice grains, shining with a brown glaze, he couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.

Shall I try it?

Just as Sejun was about to scoop a big spoonful of rice into his mouth,

“···?”

Kueng.

[Daddy, Cuengi wants to mix the fried eggs in the rice too!]

Kking.

‘Hey! Why do you get to have more?!’

Cuengi and Fenrir presented their bowls to Sejun.

Thanks to this, Sejun had to mix the rice for both of them before he could eat.

After finishing the rice mixed with the extract of 1000 eels,

“Ugh, it’s greasy.”

A strong sense of greasiness washed over him. He needed something fresh.

Sejun got up and took out the three times silenced pineapple created by Cuengi from the Void Storage.

“Guys, eat up.”

After cutting the pineapple into bite-sized pieces for Cuengi and Fenrir, he popped a slice into his mouth.

The fresh tanginess of the pineapple cleansed the greasiness from his mouth.

“Ah, that’s refreshing.”

As Sejun was eating the pineapple with a satisfied smile,

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I enjoyed the meal, meow! Now, rub my belly, meow!”

Theo, who had eaten both the eel churu and the grilled fish, climbed onto Sejun’s lap and lay down. He was quite heavy, having eaten a lot.

As Sejun was rubbing Theo’s belly,

Kueng!

[Daddy, Cuengi wants to be petted too!]

Kking!

‘My belly too!’

Having finished the pineapple, Cuengi and Fenrir approached Sejun.

“Alright. Lie down, guests.”

At Sejun’s words, Cuengi and Fenrir lay down neatly.

A moment later,

Gororong.

Kurorong.

Kkirorong.

Theo, Cuengi, and Fenrir, who had been petted by Sejun, lay sprawled out and fell asleep.

“It’s time to sleep.”

Sejun took the three of them to bed and, after eating some medicinal mugwort, fell asleep with them.

***

In front of the Golden Tower

“I got here first!”

“What are you talking about?! I marked this spot since yesterday!”

“I’ve been here since a week ago!”

The eight dragon clans, excluding the Great Golden Dragon of the Nine Dragon Clans, were fighting over territory.

The reason was the red mist.

Recently, in order to earn Tower Coins, the dragons had been eradicating the red mist around the tower, making it increasingly unsafe to hunt.

The dragons had to get closer to Destruction to hunt the red mist, which was extremely dangerous.

So, they flocked around the Golden Tower, the only place where red mist hunting wasn’t done by the Nine Dragon Clans.

As the dragons were fighting for territory, the red mist gradually enveloped them.

And then,

-Thank you, dragons, for coming out to be hunted.

The red mist transformed into Krueger, the Destroyer of Mountains and 7th seat of Apostle of Destruction.

“Huh?!”

The dragons, who had been fighting each other, turned their eyes towards the Apostle of Destruction.

Their eyes were full of fighting spirit.

Having honed their aggression by hunting the red mist, they were no longer the cowardly dragons who used to be terrified at the sight of an Apostle of Destruction.

We don’t need to fight each other anymore.

Massive Tower Coins incoming!

Yeah, let’s take it down before others come!

Everyone okay with equal shares?

Okay.

Exchanging glances, the dragons cautiously surrounded the Apostle of Destruction.

-Huh?

Krueger, who expected the dragons to flee, found himself surrounded instead and,

-Seal···

He hurriedly tried to break the seal, but

“Fire!”

Kwoooosh!

The dragons launched a preemptive breath attack. And the price of carelessness was death.

“Wow! Tower Coins!”

“How much is all this?!”

It was the first victory achieved by dragons other than the clan heads against an Apostle of Destruction.

***

As the morning sun illuminated the 99th floor of the Black Tower,

“Alright.”

Sejun woke up.

And then,

“Meoooow…”

He got up from his spot, equipped Theo on his lap, went outside, and

[The Stamina Corn, invigorated by the farmer’s footsteps, expresses its gratitude by boosting your strength.]

[Strength stat potential increases from 2003 to 2004.]

He walked around the farm, letting the crops hear his footsteps.

“But how much are my stats now?”

Sejun hadn’t checked his stats lately because it often made him feel discouraged. Still, since all his stats increased by 200 yesterday, he figured he must be stronger now.

Sejun decided to check his stats with determination.

Stats/Potential: Strength (1973/2004), Stamina (2336/2406), Agility (1690/1795), Magic Power (3321/3561), Mental Strength (159/500).

“Hmm. Am I strong?”

Although the numbers were high, Sejun found it difficult to judge whether he was strong or weak, given that he was on the 99th floor of the Tower.

He often thought, ‘With these stats, I must be strong,’ but he’d faced near-death experiences many times, keeping him humble.

‘But I’m stronger than Blackie, aren’t I?’

Sejun was confident he was stronger than Fenrir.

After checking his stats, Sejun turned and headed back home.

On his way back,

“At this rate, I can harvest them by evening, just as Flamie said.”

Sejun spoke as he looked at the grapevine branches laden with tiny grapes.

Then, he went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and ate with Theo, Cuengi, and Fenrir.

After breakfast, just as he was about to start his morning chores,

Piyo!

[Hello, Sejun-nim!]

“Hello!”

Piyot and Uren appeared. They had stopped by the Kingdom of Kov on Theo’s orders.

Theo had sent them to check if King Loui of the Kingdom of Kov had found the land deed for the 80th floor of the Tower.

Piyo!

[Theo-nim, here’s the land deed for the 80th floor of the Black Tower!]

Piyot handed the land deed to Theo.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I brought this, meow!”

Theo handed the land deed to Sejun.

“Good job, Vice Chairman Theo.”

“Puhuhut. I always do well, meow!”

“Yes, you do. You two did well too.”

Sejun patted Theo’s head and encouraged Piyot and Uren.

Piyo

[Sejun-nim, there’s more!]

Piyot pulled out a large sack from his pocket.

“What is this?”

Piyo!

[It’s Egg Fruits! Sparkie, the World Tree, asked me to bring them to you!]

“Sparkie, the World Tree?”

Piyo!

[Yes! Sparkie became the World Tree this time!]

“Really? I’ll have to go congratulate it later.”

Sejun opened the sack and found it filled with Elixir Egg Fruits in yellow, red, green, blue, and four-color stripes.

Unlike the grapevine, Sparkie was hardworking as soon as it became the World Tree.

[What is the mission of the World Tree?!]

[World peace?]

[No! You idiot!]

[What?! It’s not? When you were becoming a candidate for the World Tree…]

[Forget that! From now on, the mission of the World Tree is to bear delicious fruit for Sejun-nim! Got it?!]

Thanks to this, the grapevine even had to undergo mental training from Flamie.

Thus, Sejun obtained the land deed for the 80th floor and the Elixir Egg Fruits.

“Guys, go inside.”

Sejun canceled all his plans and had everyone enter the Void Storage to move to the 80th floor of the Tower.

Once everyone was inside the Void Storage,

Clang.

Sejun closed the Void Storage and,

Swish.

[The summoning function for the initial engraving of the Black Tower 80th-floor farm land deed is activated.]

Sejun unfolded the land deed of the 80th floor, and he disappeared.

Thus, Sejun vanished from the 99th floor of the Tower.

-Ah, this is nice.

Unaware of Sejun’s disappearance, Kaiser, Kellion, Ramter, and Tier were sipping Samyangju with snacks made by Sejun at the fountain.

-We’ll be gathering again in just a few days.

-Indeed. It’s been almost three months since the first meeting.

-That’s right.

-Ramter, what do you mean right? This time, we’re meeting at your Red Dragon’s territory.

-What?! Then this isn’t the time for this!

At Tier’s words, Ramter shouted.

Since all the leaders were gathering, there was quite a bit to prepare before the meeting.

Especially the food.

At the first meeting, the Great Golden Dragon Artemis Yul had treated the other dragons to his cuisine.

As a result, it would be embarrassing for Ramter if he neglected the food preparations for the next meeting.

However,

-Hahaha!

Ramter was confident. I’ll just ask our Sejun to make it!

Even though time was tight to prepare from now, Sejun could make it possible.

-Sejun!

Ramter called out for Sejun, but of course, Sejun, who was no longer on the 99th floor of the Tower, couldn’t answer.

-This won’t do… Aileen!

Ramter hurriedly went to find Aileen to figure out Sejun’s location.

*****