Chapter 130 – Obtaining the Sacred Stone

Just before the mana stone mine exploded.

‘Kyu—Gonoba, how dare you play tricks on me?!’

As Gonoba took out the mana bomb, Iona, who was detecting the mana of the Sacred Stone, tried to punish Gonoba immediately.

No matter how much she focused on detecting the mana, since her relationship with Gonoba was usually not good, she was on guard to some extent.

‘Kyu-kyu—I didn’t expect him to dig a trap so openly like this, though…’

Iona wore a bitter expression and prepared her magic.

Although she could not use grand magic due to the unstable mana stones around, a great mage of Iona’s caliber could easily use magic sufficient to eliminate Gonoba without stimulating the mana stones.

Just as Iona was about to use magic on Gonoba in that way,

‘This is?!’

In the mana detection, a mana different from the existing mana stones was felt. It was the Sacred Stone.

Gonoba had lied that there was a Sacred Stone to lure Iona out, but there actually was a Sacred Stone in the mana stone mine. If Gonoba had known, he would have felt quite aggrieved.

As Iona felt the Sacred Stone, the Sacred Stone also felt Iona’s mana.

And,

-I am the Sacred Stone Ice Cube, offer your body!

‘Kyu?’

A cold and unpleasant voice was heard in Iona’s head.

Sss.

At the same time, the mana of the Sacred Stone directed itself toward Iona. A cool power permeating her body. It was clearly the power of the ice-attribute Sacred Stone, but it was also different. It was a power with a darker feeling.

‘Kyu—go away!’

Iona channeled her mana and pushed away the power of the Sacred Stone.

However,

‘I missed him!’

While she was driving away the power of the Sacred Stone, Gonoba slipped away.

At that moment,

-Give me your body!

The power of the Sacred Stone tried to cling to Iona’s body again.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu—I missed Gonoba because of you! We need to have a talk! Power of mana, by my command, block everything! Dimension Shield!”

As the Sacred Stone annoyingly clung again, Iona, who was thoroughly pissed off after losing Gonoba, used a super-high-class barrier magic that, once activated, isolated the area from the surrounding dimension and completely blocked it for several days.

It was to have a serious conversation with the Sacred Stone alone.

It would be simple to destroy the Sacred Stone along with the surrounding mana stones, but then she would not be able to give the Sacred Stone to Se-jun as a gift. Therefore, although it was troublesome, she protected herself and the Sacred Stone together with the barrier.

For several days, a serious conversation(?) between Iona and the Sacred Stone took place inside the barrier. If it had been outside, the mana that would have destroyed the mana stone mine several times exploded inside the Dimension Shield.

And,

Crash.

As the magic wore off and the Dimension Shield disappeared, Iona appeared from deep underground, enclosed on all sides, holding a blue gem in her arms. The blue gem was the Sacred Stone that had finished its conversation with Iona.

Perhaps because the conversation with Iona had gone well, the Sacred Stone was quiet.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu—Gonoba, how dare you try to kill me! I won’t let you get away with this!!!”

Iona grew furious and prepared magic. She planned to run to Gonoba right now and make him regret being born.

“Power of fire and earth, by my command, make a volcano! Volcano!”

Iona caused a volcanic eruption with magic.

Rumble.

At Iona’s magic, the ground shook, and lava began to form from the deep underground.

Also,

Hum, hum.

The unstable mana stones reacted again to Iona’s magic.

“Ice Cube, protect me.”

Crack.

At Iona’s command, using Iona’s mana, the Sacred Stone created a solid, cube-shaped ice shield that wrapped around Iona’s body, enclosed on all sides.

A moment later, along with the explosion of the mana stones, lava surged up, and Iona, wrapped in the cube ice, was swept up by the lava and escaped from underground.

Boom!

In that way, Iona surged into the sky.

At that moment,

“Kyut?! This mana?”

There was an energy felt even without doing mana detection. It was Se-jun’s mana, which she had marked on purpose because it was too weak.

“Se-jun-nim is nearby!”

And that meant Theo was also nearby! Although she did not know why they were on the 77th floor of the tower, that was not important.

“I must sleep first!”

Iona hurriedly flew toward where Se-jun was. During the three days in the Dimension Shield, Iona had not slept a wink because she was harshly training the Sacred Stone so Se-jun would not experience any trouble using it.

***

“I have brought news of Se-jun-nim!”

A wolf arrived on the 99th floor of the tower, bringing news of Se-jun in a hurry.

-It is a relief that Se-jun is safe. Granddaughter, you heard too, right? So do not worry too much.

Kaiser reassured Aileen.

At that moment,

“And Se-jun-nim said it seems like it will take some time for him to return, and asked me to convey to Kaiser-nim to please take good care of the farm.”

-What?! You dare to make me manage the farm?!

Kaiser grew angry. How dare he order a dragon around!

“Ah! I should have given you this first… I made a mistake. Se-jun-nim told me to give this to Kaiser-nim.”

The wolf took out the fruit wine made by the monkeys from his pouch.

-What?! Our Se-jun did?!

Kaiser’s tone changed as he quickly accepted the alcohol and opened the lid.

Swoosh.

As soon as he opened the lid, a rich mango scent wafted out. Se-jun had specially selected and sent a mango wine that had been well-aged for over 30 years for the alcohol-loving Kaiser.

-Ahem! Tell Se-jun not to worry about the farm and to take his time! It would be nice if he brought one of this wine every time he comes. Kuhahaha.

Kaiser, who volunteered as the farm manager for a single bottle of alcohol.

And just as the wolf was about to return,

-Ahem. I will also help manage the farm, so tell Se-jun to send sweet potato soup along with it.

Kellion also stepped forward, saying he would become a farm manager.

***

Rumble.

“Ugh!”

After an earthquake occurred to the point of the ground lifting up, the ground suddenly bulged up in the direction Se-jun and the animals were looking.

And,

Boom!

A volcanic eruption occurred with a huge explosion. As a giant volcano was formed, the erupted stones fell around the volcano. Fortunately, no stones fell around Se-jun’s banana farm.

At that moment,

Plop.

“Uh?”

Something fell from the sky, landing right on Se-jun’s hand. A hamster with snow-white, fluffy fur.

“Kyut! Se-jun-nim, glad to meet you.”

It was Iona.

“Iona?!”

“Kyut-kyut-kyut! Se-jun-nim, use this. I will sleep a bit.”

[Iona, the Mage of Great Destruction, has permitted the use of the Sacred Stone Ice Cube.]

[The use restrictions of the Sacred Stone Ice Cube have been met.]

[You have become the owner of the Sacred Stone Ice Cube.]

“Ice Cube? What is this?”

While Se-jun read the message that appeared as he received the blue gem and asked again,

Kyu-purr.

Iona fell asleep, snoring. Was she very tired?

“President Theo, take good care of Iona.”

Se-jun carefully handed Iona, who was in his hand, to Theo.

“Understood, meow!”

At Se-jun’s words, as Theo, who was hanging onto his lap, brought his tail to Iona like a fishing rod,

“Kyut!”

Clutch.

As if biting a bait, Iona stretched out her cute hand and grabbed Theo’s tail. It was Iona responding to Theo’s tail even while asleep.

“Kyut-kyut-kyut.”

Iona, who met the two conditions for sweet sleep by wrapping herself around Theo’s tail, made a pleasant sound and began to sleep soundly in earnest.

“What is a Sacred Stone?”

After confirming that Iona was sleeping well, Se-jun checked the blue gem Iona had given him.

[Sacred Stone Ice Cube]

It was a stone created when a star from the sky fell.

Although it was temporarily contaminated by corrupt energy, the corrupt energy was completely destroyed by a mighty power, leaving it with purely ice-attribute power.

Once recognized as the owner, you could supply mana to the Sacred Stone and make cube-shaped ice.

If the owner was in danger, the Sacred Stone automatically wrapped the owner in cube-shaped ice to protect them.

Owner: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Grade: S+

Use Restriction: Mana 100 or higher, one who has received Iona’s permission

“Cube-shaped ice? Ice Cube.”

As Se-jun put mana into the Sacred Stone,

Ding!

A cube of ice was created in front of Se-jun. The size was about 50 cm. That was the maximum size he could make with his mana.

“Pyak!”

“Cueng!”

As Se-jun made the ice, the black rabbit and Cuengi began to show interest. The two played with the ice, touching it, licking it, and biting it.

In the meantime, Se-jun fell into thought.

“Can I mix this with other things?”

Se-jun put out honey this time, and,

“Ice Cube.”

He blew mana into the Sacred Stone again. This time, while thinking of mixing honey into the cube.

Slurp.

The Ice Cube began to be created as it sucked the honey from the glass jar. This time, he reduced his mana to make it the size of a fist.

And,

Ding.

The completed ice honey cube, half water and half honey.

“Cuengi! Come here for a second. I will give you something good!”

Se-jun hurriedly called Cuengi to brag about his masterpiece. This was something Cuengi had no choice but to like.

“Cueng!”

At Se-jun’s call, Cuengi, who had been lying on the ice and enjoying the coolness, rushed over.

Cueng?

[Did you call me, Dad-da-yo?]

“Cuengi, try eating this.”

As Se-jun gave him the ice honey cube,

Crunch!

Cuengi chewed and ate it immediately.

“Cueng!!”

[It’s sweet and cool-da-yo!]

Wiggling his butt, he could not contain his joy. As expected, he knew Cuengi would like it.

Crunch, crunch.

Cuengi began to eat the ice honey cube excitedly.

As Cuengi ate the ice honey cube mixed with honey deliciously,

“Pyak!”

The black rabbit asked to put carrots inside the ice for himself.

“Carrots?”

“Pyak!”

Since carrots were not liquid, he did not know how it would turn out, but decided to try it for now.

“Ice Cube.”

When he prepared the shredded carrots and blew mana into the Sacred Stone,

Float, float.

The shredded carrots floated up, and the ice wrapped around them, creating an Ice Cube.

“Huh?! This works?”

It felt like he could freeze and eat almost anything.

“Pyak!”

The black rabbit rushed him to give the ice carrot cube quickly.

“Here.”

As Se-jun gave him the ice carrot cube,

Crunch, crunch.

“Pyak!”

The black rabbit rejoiced, chewing the ice and carrots together.

At that moment,

“Moo!”

The Black Minotaurs brought the grass they ate and began to line up.

“Do you want it frozen too?”

“Moo!”

The Black Minotaurs nodded at Se-jun’s words.

“Alright. Ice Cube.”

Se-jun, recognized as the owner. Out of gratitude for coming all the way here to find him, he worked hard to make ice grass cubes by mixing grass according to the Black Minotaurs’ demands.

“Whew. Finished.”

Se-jun sat down on the ground with a thud and said. Because he made an ice grass cube for each of the 500 Black Minotaurs, his mana was almost on the verge of exhaustion.

Still, it was because his mana recovery speed was fast that he endured this much; without it, he would have collapsed a long time ago.

“Black Rabbit, break that for me.”

He spoke to the black rabbit, pointing to the Ice Cube containing a whole watermelon. It was something he had frozen to eat coolly later while making the ice grass cubes for the Black Minotaurs.

“Pyak!”

Ppyok! Ppyok! Ppyok!

As the black rabbit tapped the ice containing the watermelon with his hammer,

Crack.

The ice cracked, and only the ice broke. Since about 30 minutes had passed since it was frozen, the watermelon was not frozen solid.

“Pyak!”

As the black rabbit brought the watermelon,

Thrust.

When Se-jun thrust a dagger into the watermelon and turned it once,

Crack.

The watermelon split open on its own.

“Shall we eat?”

Se-jun held half a watermelon in his arms.

“Mmm. It’s cool.”

Just holding the watermelon made the heat vanish.

Scoop.

Se-jun began to eat the moderately frozen watermelon with a spoon.

“Brr. It’s cold.”

Se-jun said, shivering. After eating about three spoonfuls, a cool energy rose from inside, and the cold was felt.

While Se-jun was eating the watermelon, feeling the cold in that way,

Thump.

A spoon stabbed into Se-jun’s watermelon. It was Cuengi. Having already finished the other half-pot with the black rabbit, he targeted Se-jun’s watermelon.

Munch, munch.

Watching the watermelon rapidly disappear, Se-jun’s spoon movements became faster.

However,

“Ugh!”

Eating cold food too quickly caused a brain freeze.

“Cueng!”

In the meantime, Cuengi finished the remaining watermelon and drew a victory V.

“Cuengi, don’t you get a brain freeze?”

Cueng?

Cuengi tilted his head. What is that-da-yo?

That made it even more annoying and unfair.

While Se-jun was feeling aggrieved in that way,

“Um, Se-jun-nim…”

“Se-jun-nim…”

The wolves looked at Se-jun with pitiful eyes. What about us? We want to eat something cool too.

Fortunately, the wolves were meat lovers. He was able to solve it by giving them the Purple Locust meat frozen in his sub-space warehouse.

The 285th day of distress, a hectic day drew to a close.

And the next morning.

“Are you leaving this early?”

“Kyut-kyut-kyut. Yes! I have an urgent matter to deal with. I will handle it quickly and come back!”

As soon as she woke up, Iona packed a few roasted peanuts and hurriedly departed.

The back of the departing Iona looked very ominous.

“Why did they have to provoke her…”

Se-jun prayed for the soul of the existence that had angered Iona.