NoveLight ™
[You have arrived at the 1st floor of the Purple Tower.]
When Sejun arrived:
“Welcome, Lord Sejun.”
“Welcome, sir!”
Veronica, a tower farmer with pale white skin, and Choba, a slightly clumsy but poison-immune merchant, greeted Sejun. They had been tidying up the 1st-floor shop while awaiting his arrival.
[You have been recognized as the rightful owner of the shop on the 1st floor of the Purple Tower.]
This allowed Sejun to immediately claim ownership of the shop.
“Good to see you, Veronica and Choba.”
Sejun exchanged greetings with them.
Clink.
“Heh heh. I missed you, great hybrid Chairman Park!”
Quack!
Squeak!
The companions emerged from the subspace warehouse and clung to Sejun. They also greeted Veronica and Choba.
Then:
“This here is Choba’s poison shop, and over there…”
Veronica guided Sejun and the group across the market street, heading toward the private passage.
“Heh heh. Choba, have you been working hard to make money lately?”
Theo asked, scrutinizing Choba’s diligence.
“Yes?! Yes, I’ve been working hard!”
“Then show me the results!”
Theo extended his paw, ready to take the earnings. His check on Choba’s efforts had a clear ulterior motive.
“Yes…”
Choba, now contemplating how to warn other merchants via their network to lie about their work ethic when asked by Theo, handed over his money.
“Heh heh. Excellent! As a reward, I’ll give you this! Work even harder!”
Theo pinned a purple badge shaped like his paw onto Choba’s chest.
The idea for a "praise badge" had come to Theo after seeing how much Sejun liked giving stamps of approval to Queng.
[Purple Praise Badge of Vice Chairman Theo from Sejun Company]
What the heck is this poorly made badge?
Choba’s expression soured as he examined the crude badge, clearly made by an unskilled artisan.
But appearances could be deceiving. The badge's creator and materials were far from ordinary.
[Purple Praise Badge of Vice Chairman Theo from Sejun Company]
Crafted with effort by Park Theo, Park Queng, and Park Bet-Bet using the scales of the great Purple Dragon Tier Pheten.
Restrictions: Sejun Company employees only.
Grade: S
Creator: The Park Trio
Since the badge was made with scales from the leader of the great Purple Dragons, Tier Pheten, it was essentially a priceless artifact.
“Thank you!”
Hehe, I must be the first to receive this.
Realizing its value, Choba bowed deeply, his head at a 90-degree angle. It wasn’t famous yet, but it was bound to become a highly sought-after item.
Meanwhile, Sejun and his companions reached the private passage.
“Well, we’ll be off.”
“See you next time.”
“Take care!”
Sejun bid farewell to Veronica and Choba.
Plop.
He placed his hand on the purple portal.
[You currently have access to two locations.]
[Please select your destination.]
“Ticha.”
After a short wait:
[You will now be transported to <Ticha>.]
Sejun and his companions disappeared.
Left alone, Veronica and Choba wrapped up their tasks.
“Choba, I’m heading out too.”
“Alright. Safe travels.”
Veronica left to harvest crops.
Meanwhile:
“Hehehe. Time to show off.”
Click.
Choba took a picture of himself wearing the praise badge and posted it on the merchant network to brag.
[Uploading a photo costs 100,000 tower coins. Do you wish to proceed?]
“Yes. Upload all 50 pictures.”
Even though it cost him 5 million tower coins, Choba willingly paid the price.
[Merchant Choba of the Purple Tower: Photos of the exceptional employee Choba receiving Vice Chairman Theo’s praise badge!]
[Merchant Choba of the Purple Tower: Badge options for skeptics attached.]
The photos caused an uproar among merchants on the network.
[Merchant Charlie of the Silver Tower: What?! Choba, who only lost 600 billion tower coins, gets a praise badge? Unfair! I want one too!]
The merchant network was in chaos.
Aboard the Pirate Ship
Peep?
[The Camo Pirate Crew, you say?]
Piyot interrogated the pirates tied up with ropes. They revealed that they were members of the Camo Pirates, based in the world of <Grondera>.
Peep?!
[Over 5 million members?!]
The Camo Pirates boasted military power comparable to a small nation.
“Yeah, so let us go!”
“If you release us now, we’ll spare your life. Though we might make you a slave. Kekeke.”
The pirates assumed Piyot was intimidated by their numbers and tried to threaten him.
However:
Camo Pirates have vast manpower.
Return to Earth and head back to the Black Tower.
Inform Sir Theo about the Camo Pirates’ base, <Grondera>.
Accompany Sir Theo to <Grondera> to eliminate the Camo Pirates and mark their territory.
Sejun Company gains a massive number of new employees.
I’ll earn praise from Sir Theo: “As expected, my right paw is none other than Piyot!”
Pfft. Perfect.
Rather than being scared, Piyot was busy running positive simulations in his mind.
While Piyot continued extracting information from the pirates:
“Hehehe. Tasty!”
“Hohoho. I think it’s tasty too!”
Yuren was raiding the ship’s food storage, while Poyo licked away his misfortune.
Then:
Peep?
Piyot noticed a ship several times larger than theirs rapidly approaching.
The approaching ship bore a black fist emblem identical to that of the ship Piyot was on—clearly another vessel from the Camo Pirate Crew.
“Hahaha! Reinforcements have arrived.”
“Did you think we’d be taken down so easily? We called for backup earlier!”
“That’s why we spilled information so readily!”
The pirates smugly admitted they had anticipated defeat and preemptively requested help.
Whack. Whack.
Piyot knocked them unconscious.
What should I do?
Piyot contemplated as he eyed the approaching ship.
Peep? Peep!
What will Piyot decide?
[You have arrived at <Ticha>.]
Sejun and his companions arrived at the new area.
“Alright, let’s get started.”
“Heh heh. Let’s go, nya!”
“Quack quack quack. Ready!”
Queng!
Squeak!
The group immediately set out to locate the calamities.
20 Minutes Later
“Good. Everyone, over here.”
Sejun opened one of the subspace rooms and called out to his companions.
“Quack quack quack. Winds of power, gather…”
Iona used wind magic, and Queng utilized telekinesis to herd the locusts.
Flap flap.
The locusts obediently entered the subspace room.
Using similar methods, the group spent hours capturing various calamities, including locusts, giant bloodsucking leeches, fire moths, petrifying spiders, and slimes, placing them into designated subspace rooms.
Since one room was already full of fire moths, they opened a new subspace room for the additional ones. Iona cast fire magic, and a large pile of fuel was added to sustain them.
The locusts were fed corn stalks, tomato vines, and carrot tops. The giant bloodsucking leeches were given fragrant, life-filled grapes. The petrifying spiders were fed carefully selected tasty rocks by Umdol and Jaki, and the slimes were given food scraps since they could eat virtually anything.
After ensuring each subspace room was stocked with adequate food for the calamities, the group continued their hunt.
Some Time Later
Kooaaah!
Sejun and his companions defeated an ogre.
At one point, a planet-destroying turtle appeared.
Queng!
With one cute roar from Queng, the turtle immediately surrendered, flipped onto its back, and pledged allegiance.
“Finally done. Great job, everyone. Let’s eat.”
After vanquishing all the calamities that had invaded <Ticha>, Sejun began preparing a meal.
[You have achieved the great creative feat of safely breeding the First Calamity, Locusts.]
[As a reward, you have gained the title <Owner of the Locust Farm>.]
[As a reward, your Level 0 floor residence cost has decreased by 1%.]
[You have achieved the great creative feat of safely breeding the Second Calamity, Giant Bloodsucking Leeches...]
A series of achievement messages appeared. Unlike the first great achievement, these only reduced the residence cost by 1%.
By the end, Sejun had acquired the titles <Owner of the Locust Farm>, <Owner of the Giant Bloodsucking Leech Farm>, <Owner of the Petrifying Spider Farm>, and <Owner of the Slime Farm>.
Then:
[The title <Watcher of the Primordial Secrets> has combined five similar titles into one.]
[The titles <Owner of the Locust Farm>, <Owner of the Giant Bloodsucking Leech Farm>… have been merged.]
[You have gained the title <Owner of the Calamity Farm>.]
The new title absorbed the effects of all five previous titles.
<Title: Owner of the Calamity Farm>
“Oh.”
This is even better.
Sejun grinned as he examined the title. The taste and texture improvement had jumped from “better” to “significantly better,” and the breeding speed had increased from double to triple. The double experience bonus, which had previously only applied to farm-raised Calamities, now extended to all Calamities.
For reference, the title Sejun had obtained earlier that morning, <Bestower of Blessings>, allowed him to use divine power to bestow weak blessings.
Of course, while Sejun had plenty of divine power, he couldn’t use it, making the title utterly useless.
“System, are you trolling me again?!”
“Nya! Chairman, let’s impeach it, nya!”
As a result, [System 371] found itself under verbal attack from both Sejun and Theo once more.
Meanwhile, on the 55th floor of the Black Tower
[The Blessing of Abundance has descended.]
[Crop yields have increased.]
[Breeding success rates have improved.]
Kyut! Kyut!
[Damn it! I can’t even use it!]
Bozzi, who had just been rejected by Lara for the umpteenth time, cursed [System 371] as he lamented his inability to utilize the blessings.