Chapter 11 – Becoming an Adult

The black dragon Aileen Pritani found the sweet potatoes Se-jun had hidden in a corner of the cave. And after persistent persuasion (?), she accepted three sweet potatoes and green onion leaves from the human as a quest and began to roast them in the furnace.

Because making roasted sweet potatoes only required wrapping them in leaves and putting them into the fire, it had looked extremely easy when watched through the crystal ball.

“There is no way that I, the great black dragon, cannot do what a human does.”

Aileen, who was confident of success.

However, she completely burnt the first roasted sweet potato, turning it into sweet potato charcoal, and threw it away without being able to eat it. The second time, she pulled it out too early, so the inside was not completely cooked. Roasted sweet potatoes were a profound dish that tested patience.

“Hehehe. Did it turn out well?”

With eyes full of expectation, Aileen pulled out the last remaining roasted sweet potato, which was emitting a sweet burnt aroma, from the furnace. Since she had accumulated know-how from the two failures, she was confident of success this time.

Carefully holding the roasted sweet potato with two fingers, she broke it in half.

“Huh?”

The feeling was different from when she broke the roasted sweet potato given by the human in half. What was it?

However, she forgot about it quickly as the hot steam rose and the yellow-cooked flesh of the roasted sweet potato was revealed.

“It’s done! It’s done!”

Aileen rejoiced while looking at the completed roasted sweet potato.

“Hehehe. Human, did you see? The roasted sweet potato made by me, the great black dragon Aileen Pritani!”

Aileen stared at the roasted sweet potato with a proud expression.

And,

“Chomp.”

she peeled the roasted sweet potato and put half of it into her mouth.

Although it felt like it would taste better if she bit into it like the human, she was a black dragon. She could not tolerate taking a human form, which would lower her dignity.

Crunch.

“Huh?!”

This was not the texture. Her teeth should have entered without any resistance, but a subtle resistance was felt. It was not the squishy, chewy, and soft texture that the human had offered.

Besides, though it was sweet, the more concentrated sweetness of the roasted sweet potato she had first eaten did not come out either.

“How can this be? My fire is stronger… Why is mine less delicious…”

She could not believe that she, the great black dragon, was worse at roasting sweet potatoes than a human.

That I, a dragon, am worse at controlling the fire than a human! Aileen fell into despair.

“Argh! My pride is hurt!”

Aileen was vexed all by herself today as well.

“I’m annoyed, so shall I see what the human is doing?”

Aileen began to watch the cave where Se-jun was through the crystal ball.

***

Squeak!

Squeee!

As soon as he woke up, Se-jun was awakened by the sounds of the rabbit couple moving busily.

“Heave-ho!”

As soon as Se-jun stood up, he went to the wall where the dates were recorded.

And,

Scratch, scratch.

drawing a line on the wall with the fish bone, he completed the character “”.

On the wall, there were two lines with ten “” characters drawn each, and on the third line below them, four “” characters were completed.

[120th Day of Distress]

‘Almost four months have passed…’

Se-jun glanced at the wall once, went to the pond to wash his face, and ate breakfast.

Then, he began the morning farming.

Plop, plop.

[You have harvested a well-ripened Magical Cherry Tomato.]

[Your job experience increases very minutely.]

[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 2 increases very minutely.]

[You have obtained 10 experience points.]

…

..

.

Pitter-patter.

Pyah.

Pyai.

The baby rabbits, who ran to Se-jun’s side while he was harvesting cherry tomatoes, made pitiful expressions.

“Hmph. If you think your uncle will give you cherry tomatoes just because you make such a pitiful face, that is a huge misunderstanding.”

Pyah?

Pyah?

‘Is uncle crazy?’ The baby rabbits, unable to understand Se-jun’s words, tilted their heads and began to back away.

Se-jun’s isolated humor, failing to develop along with the world, was evolving independently like the Galapagos. No, perhaps degeneration was more accurate.

“If you rub against your uncle’s cheek, I will give it to you.”

As the baby rabbits tried to run away, Se-jun quickly got to the point.

Pyai…

Pyah…

The baby rabbits frowned and sighed. The sound of the baby rabbits’ favorability dropping felt as if it could be heard in real time.

He was sorry. He did not know it was that big of a favor.

“Uncle was just joking. Here…”

Just as Se-jun was hurriedly trying to hand over the harvested cherry tomatoes,

Hop, hop.

one baby rabbit jumped from the ground, stepped on Se-jun’s knee, and climbed onto Se-jun’s shoulder. It was a rabbit that followed Se-jun particularly well.

And,

Rub, rub.

it rubbed its face against Se-jun’s cheek. The touch of the soft fur was fluffy, making him feel good.

“Oh-! You get two!”

Se-jun gave two cherry tomatoes to the rabbit that listened to his words. To the rest of the baby rabbits, one each.

Pyah!

Pyai!

The baby rabbits who received only one cherry tomato protested, but he did not give them any more.

“Hehehe. This is what happens if you disappoint your uncle.”

At Se-jun’s words, the baby rabbits snorted and went to a cool place in the cave, beginning to sip cherry tomatoes.

When the cherry tomato harvesting was finished, Se-jun rested for a bit and then caught piranhas to prepare grilled fish for lunch.

Stick.

[The tower administrator is angry with you.]

“Why again?”

Se-jun indifferently dismissed the message from the tower administrator, who was getting angry all by herself for no reason.

At first, he was tense thinking it was a huge deal, but since she got angry several times earlier, he now just let it go.

‘Is it something like an anger management disorder?’

When it was time for lunch,

Buzz, buzz.

the poison honeybee came to work to suck nectar today as well.

“Welcome.”

Rub, rub.

The poison honeybee landed on the shoulder of Se-jun, who was watering the carrot field, and stamped her clock-in by rubbing her body against Se-jun’s face.

And,

Buzz, buzz.

she flew to the flowers to suck nectar. However, she went to the green onion field, not the cherry tomato field.

The green onions, which had been left without their leaves being cut to bloom green onion flowers, finally bloomed. The poison honeybee ate the nectar of the green onion flowers first and then moved to the cherry tomato flowers.

“I should harvest the green onion flowers today.”

It was about time to harvest the green onion seeds. Having finished lunch, Se-jun pulled out the bloomed green onions by the roots, from which the poison honeybee had finished sucking nectar and departed.

Since green onions that bloomed thought they had fulfilled their role and died, they had to be harvested and eaten quickly. Grilled whole green onion was added to today’s lunch.

The green onion flowers were separated and dried in the sun. Because if the green onion flowers dried completely, the seeds would easily fall out with just a light shake.

Se-jun dried the green onion flowers well in the sun and began the afternoon farming.

Buzz, buzz.

As evening drew near, the poison honeybee came, regurgitated honey, and returned home, and the afternoon farming also ended smoothly.

“The Blue Moon is in two days.”

Walking back and forth to digest after dinner, Se-jun spoke while looking at the wall calendar.

The fifth Blue Moon he experienced since being stranded in the tower.

Although the fourth Blue Moon passed peacefully, he could not relax because a monster might appear like the third Blue Moon.

“I hope it passes safely this time too…”

Se-jun sat down at his designated seat with worry. Watching the crops growing rapidly in the sun, a bright energy swelled up in Se-jun’s heart and pushed away his recent worries.

“I’m happy.”

With Se-jun’s designated seat as the origin, the green onion field in the first quadrant, the cherry tomato field in the second quadrant, the carrot field in the third quadrant, and the sweet potato field in the fourth quadrant made Se-jun’s heart feel secure.

Like that, another day passed, and it became the 121st day of distress.

Today was similar to usual. However, the poison honeybee did not come during lunch today. It seemed the poison honeybee was also preparing for the Blue Moon.

When evening came, Se-jun turned off the fire and prepared for the Blue Moon, packing earmuffs made of green onion leaves and cherry tomatoes.

Taking a position in the corner of the cave and preparing for the Blue Moon, Se-jun saw a sight different from usual.

“Why haven’t you guys gone inside yet?”

The rabbit couple placed the baby rabbits on Se-jun’s designated seat and tied the legs of the six babies tightly together with green onion leaves.

And,

Squeak…

Squeee…

after staring at the babies for a long time and making mournful cries, the rabbit couple returned to their burrow alone and closed the entrance.

“What’s wrong?! Why are you doing this?”

Pyah!

Pyah!

Pyak!

As Se-jun quickly stood up to bring the baby rabbits back, the baby rabbits lifted their soft paws with solemn expressions and cried out not to come closer.

And a moment later, the Blue Moon began.

***

The farmer white rabbits had a tradition. On the day the fifth Blue Moon after their birth rose, they had to receive the light of the Blue Moon to become true adult farmer white rabbits.

Therefore, today was the most important day for the baby rabbits.

The baby rabbits looked at the sky with expressions full of anticipation, waiting for the Blue Moon to rise.

And as the sun in the sky turned into blue light, the energy of the Blue Moon settled on the baby rabbits through the cave hole.

Pyak!

Pyah!

He had looked down on them a bit as just rabbits, but a monster was indeed a monster. Upon seeing the light of the Blue Moon, the baby rabbits screamed and got excited.

Crack, crack.

The baby rabbits’ muscles began to swell. The rabbits that had been smaller than a palm transformed into 30cm-tall muscular rabbits. There was even a king character () representing six-pack abs on their stomachs.

If rabbits were at that level during the Blue Moon… he did not even want to imagine other monsters.

Pyah!

Pyah!

The baby rabbits kept screaming while looking at the sky. Fortunately, no monsters came after hearing the baby rabbits’ voices.

The Blue Moon ended safely this time too.

Pyah…

Pyah…

When the Blue Moon ended, their muscles shrank as if air was deflating from a balloon, and the baby rabbits returned to their cute appearances. However, their size had now changed to be similar to the rabbit couple. They had become adults.

At that moment,

Flash.

Blue light exploded from the baby rabbits’ bodies.

“Huh?!”

Se-jun, who was watching the baby rabbits, witnessed a mysterious sight. The blue light moved to the baby rabbits’ fingertips and condensed, turning into items.

‘So that was why I couldn’t use the husband rabbit’s watering can.’

Se-jun realized why water did not come out from the watering can when he held it. It seemed the farmer white rabbits had their own bound items.

The items gradually formed shapes and then turned into a shovel, a sickle, a shovel, a watering can, and an A-frame carrier.

And,

“A rice cake mallet?”

Since it was made of iron, was it a hammer? Suddenly, an item of a different genre appeared.

Come to think of it, only the one holding the hammer turned black in color. And the name written above its head too.

[Warrior Black Rabbit]

“Warrior Black Rabbit?”

Pyak!

Hop!

Rub, rub.

The Warrior Black Rabbit, thinking Se-jun had called it, climbed onto his shoulder and acted cute. It was the fellow that followed Se-jun and had received two cherry tomatoes.

When morning came, the rabbits who had become adults did not play anymore. Each helped with farming using their own farming tools.

The rabbit with the watering can helped the husband rabbit water the crops, and the rabbit holding the sickle helped the wife rabbit cut green onion leaves.

The rabbit who obtained the A-frame carrier as an item carried the cut green onion leaves and moved Se-jun’s harvested crops to the storage, and the two rabbits with shovels expanded the fields so that additional seeds could be planted.

Although their skills were still immature, because the farming tools were items, they were of great help to farming.

And the Black Rabbit, who did not have a farming tool, helped Se-jun with hunting.

Splash.

Se-jun shook the torch near the pond, and a piranha jumped up.

“Now!”

Pyah!

At Se-jun’s signal, the Black Rabbit, who had been waiting, jumped up to strike the piranha with its hammer.

However,

Pyah?!

the timing was off. Before swinging the hammer, the Black Rabbit’s body already collided with the piranha.

Thud!

Fortunately, though, the body slam worked, and the Black Rabbit fell out of the water along with the piranha.

Spring.

As soon as it fell to the ground, the Black Rabbit quickly stood up.

And,

Pyah!

running to the flopping piranha, it struck it with the hammer.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

He did not know why a squeaky toy hammer sound came from the hammer, but the effect was certain. Since the piranha died. Instead, it became a pulp to the extent that it was inedible.

Pyah!

The Black Rabbit placed the hammer on its shoulder and looked at Se-jun arrogantly, as if to say, “How am I?”

However,

‘Don’t look at me, look over there.’

There was a gaze glaring at the Black Rabbit.

Squeak!

Seeing that the piranha to be eaten for a meal had turned to pulp, the mother rabbit was approaching.

Squeak!

Pyah…

The Black Rabbit had to listen to the mother rabbit’s nagging for about an hour.

Just as the newly adult rabbits were getting used to their respective equipment,

[30 days have passed since purchasing from the Seed Shop.]

[Seed Shop Lv. 1 is reactivated.]

On the 125th day of distress, the Seed Shop opened again.