Chapter 157 – Training the Claws

“Brachio, what did you mean by what you said earlier?”

After Kaiser left, Artemis, who found it strange that Brachio had told Kaiser to hand over the tower farmer, asked.

“That is a secret.”

“Brachio, you obtained one of the Creator God’s stone tablets, did you not?”

“That… how did you?!”

A question that pierced straight through without beating around the bush. Suddenly having her secret struck, Brachio looked at Artemis hastily with a surprised expression.

“There is no need to be so surprised. I also obtained a fragment of the Creator God’s stone tablet. Kellion, you also have a fragment of the Creator God’s stone tablet, do you not?”

“Yes.”

Kellion answered Artemis’s question casually. This was because, after seeing a fragment of the Creator God’s stone tablet on the 99th floor of the Black Tower, he had thought that there might be a fragment of the Creator God’s stone tablet in each tower.

Artemis had been convinced that Brachio had secured a fragment of the Creator God’s stone tablet when she demanded the tower farmer from Kaiser. Otherwise, she would not have been able to say such things to Kaiser.

It was clear that she had seen something on the Creator God’s stone tablet. The reason Artemis was so convinced was that the fragment of the Creator God’s stone tablet he had seen had the following content written on it.

[Second Commandment – A tower farmer can rule over the tower farmers of other towers.]

Here, ‘tower farmers’ was important. Depending on the interpretation, it meant that one tower farmer could rule over all the other tower farmers.

That was why Artemis had intentionally boasted about his tower farmer for the sake of the future. It was one of the small stepping stones for the future.

“In my opinion, the fragment of the Creator God’s stone tablet found in the Green Tower likely has a commandment stating that one can bring a tower farmer from another tower.”

“…….”

Brachio did not confirm or deny it. Confirming or denying it here would in itself provide information about the stone tablet.

“Let’s do this…”

Judging that there would be no progress in conversing while hiding things from each other in this way, Artemis made a proposal to Brachio and Kellion.

He proposed to speak about the fragments of the Creator God’s stone tablet they each knew, staking their Dragon Hearts.

“Of course, we must also make an oath not to speak of what we hear here to the other dragons.”

“Sure.”

“Good.”

Artemis’s proposal to Brachio and Kellion was accepted.

“All right. Then, I will speak first.”

When Artemis spoke of the content of the stone tablet, Brachio and Kellion spoke too.

[Fifth Commandment – If a tower farmer wishes, they can become the tower farmer of another tower.]

[Sixth Commandment – Tower farmers can exchange crops through mutual contracts.]

The two knew the Fifth and Sixth Commandments.

Out of the nine fragments, three fragments were all about tower farmers. Furthermore, they were the second, fifth, and sixth contents. If so, it was reasonable to think that at least the second to sixth contents were all stories about tower farmers.

And assuming there was one Creator God’s stone tablet in each of the eight towers, there was a possibility that a total of eight commandments existed. If so, at least five out of the eight were about tower farmers.

“This makes it certain. The Creator God definitely wishes to achieve something through the tower farmer.”

Artemis spoke in a confident voice.

“Then, see you at the next meeting.”

The dragons, whose heads became complicated due to the contents of the Creator God’s stone tablet, returned to their residences.

***

The morning of Day 313 of being stranded.

“Heave-ho!”

When Se-jun woke up,

Purr, purr.

Kyurororong.

The snoring sounds of Theo and Iona were heard. It was Iona, who had visited at dawn and slept soundly while curling up Theo’s tail.

After a while,

“Puhahat. Iona, look at this, meow! Lord Kaiser gave it to me, meow! I am now the subordinate of the Great Black Dragon and the yellow cat with lethal Dragon’s Claws, Theo Park, meow!”

Flash!

Theo excitedly boasted about his new claws received from Kaiser.

However,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. Vice President Theo! Please give me just one of those claws!”

“Meow?!”

Soon, he realized that showing the Dragon’s Claws to Iona was a big mistake. Since he had shown the Dragon’s Claws to a wizard…

“No, meow! It hurts, meow!”

Theo hastily retracted his claws and ran away,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. I will pull them out for you so they do not hurt!”

Iona chased after Theo.

“I do not want to, meow!”

Theo ran quickly and fled, but

“Kyu-kyu-kyu.”

He could not shake off Iona, who chased after him using flight magic.

And Theo, who fled and returned to the lap of Se-jun, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen area. Thinking about it, he was invincible when he was on Se-jun’s lap.

“Chairman Park, resolve this, meow!”

Theo, who became invincible, shouted confidently.

“Resolve what? Both of you, come here and sit.”

“Understood, meow!”

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. Yes!”

Se-jun made the two, who were running around distractedly since morning, sit down. Then, he hurriedly prepared breakfast. Soon, it was time for the little ferocious beast to barge in.

Cueng!

[I am hungry-da-yo!]

Bang! Bang!

The little ferocious beast entered while patting his belly to show that it was empty.

“Did you come, Cuengi? Sit down quickly, meow!”

When Theo spoke while pointing at the seat next to him,

Cueng!

[Good morning, big brother-da-yo! Good morning, Sister Iona-da-yo!]

Cuengi greeted the two sitting on either side of him.

“Kyu. Glad to meet you, Cuengi.”

While they greeted each other like that,

“Here is breakfast.”

Se-jun began placing food in front of each of them.

“I will eat well, meow!”

Theo ate the golden-roasted grilled fish deliciously, and

Cueng!

[Dad, Cuengi will also eat well-da-yo!]

Cuengi first downed a bowl of thick honey-water mixed in a 5:5 ratio of honey and water in one shot, and began eating the candied chestnuts.

Candied chestnuts were a labor-intensive dish where one had to peel only the outer shell of the chestnuts, leave the inner skin, boil them several times to remove the astringent taste, hold them one by one to remove impurities, add honey and sugar to water again, and simmer them down.

Se-jun solved the labor-intensive task with many hands, receiving the help of the hedgehogs on the 83rd floor of the tower, and

Cueng!

[It is delicious-da-yo!]

He was able to make a quantity that Cuengi could grab and eat by the handful hundreds of times.

And

“Kyu-kyu-kyu.”

Nibble, nibble.

Iona pulled out roasted peanuts she had collected in advance in her pocket for breakfast and nibbled on them diligently.

Squeak!

Pyah!

Finally, after taking care of the rabbits who had entered to eat breakfast,

“Mmm. It’s delicious.”

Se-jun also ate his breakfast starting with the candied chestnuts.

“Now I should go to work.”

Se-jun headed to the brewery after eating breakfast like that. Since he had to brew the makgeolli to be used for the birthday party as well as the makgeolli Kaiser had ordered, the amount of work to do today was not simple.

“I wonder if I can do it all within today… Uh?! A bean pod has opened.”

A plump bean pod inside the five-colored bean field caught the eye of Se-jun, who was walking toward the brewery while worrying about today’s tasks.

Initially, he had planted two five-colored beans, but as he kept harvesting and planting, the number of five-colored bean plants had grown to fifty before he knew it.

However, compared to the increase in five-colored bean plants, a bean that increased stats by 100% like the Red Bean of Sturdy Stamina had never appeared after the first harvest.

The first harvest was incredibly lucky. The harvest rate of beans that increased stats by 100% was extremely low.

“Today, let’s harvest some other beans besides five-colored beans.”

Pluck.

Se-jun spoke to himself as he plucked the bean pod and opened it.

[You have acquired 4 five-colored beans.]

[You have acquired a Green Bean of Racing Agility.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 6 slightly increased.]

[You have acquired 700 experience points.]

“Oh!”

The Green Bean of Racing Agility. Just looking at the name, it was a bean that increased Agility stat by 100%. Se-jun happily packed the green bean and hurriedly planted four five-colored beans.

And Se-jun, who went to the brewery, began making makgeolli.

While he was resting for a moment after making the rice flour dough for about two hours,

“Se-jun-nim! We have come!”

Ukki!

Ukki!

Hegel and the wolves appeared, bringing five Banana Monkeys from the 77th floor of the tower. When the amount of makgeolli to brew alone became too large, Se-jun had given a separate instruction to Hegel.

He had told him to bring the monkeys who had experience brewing alcohol on the 77th floor of the tower. That was why Hegel and the Black Wolves brought the monkeys.

Ukki!

Ukki!

As soon as the Banana Monkeys saw Se-jun, they prostrated and bowed.

“Thank you for coming all this way. Come in. I will explain to you.”

When the monkeys who would help him came, Se-jun took the monkeys into the brewery and began to explain.

Ukki?

“Ah. That is…”

Ukki!

“Right. It is similar.”

The monkeys, who had originally brewed alcohol for several years, asked Se-jun a few questions and quickly understood the process of brewing makgeolli.

And

Ukki!

“Ah. Is that so?”

From then on, Se-jun was actually learning how to brew alcohol from the Banana Monkeys. Thanks to that, the taste of the makgeolli to be made this time was expected to be even better.

While Se-jun was diligently brewing makgeolli like that,

“Puhahat. Cuengi, look at this, meow!”

Flash!

Theo boasted of his Dragon’s Claws to Cuengi as well, looking around to see if Iona was nearby.

Normally, Theo would not separate from Se-jun’s lap, but in order to boast to Cuengi, he had to leave Se-jun’s lap.

The reason was that Se-jun did not permit the young Cuengi to enter the brewery. Therefore, Theo was boasting about his claws to Cuengi in front of the brewery.

Cueng! Cueng!

[Big brother, you are cool-da-yo! Cuengi also wants to have Dragon’s Claws-da-yo!]

Cuengi, who wanted to have whatever his big brother had. As expected, Cuengi envied Theo’s Dragon’s Claws this time too.

“Puhahat. This is not something just anyone can have, meow! You need a Dragon Heart, meow!”

Cueng?

[What is a Dragon Heart-da-yo?]

“Meow? You do not even know what a Dragon Heart is, meow?! Listen carefully, meow!”

Theo explained that a Dragon Heart referred to a dragon’s heart, and then hurriedly entered the brewery. Since he had boasted enough, he now had to occupy the lap again.

***

Growl.

“Huh?”

Se-jun was puzzled by the sound coming from his belly. It was because normally, before Se-jun’s biological clock rang, Cuengi would visit him saying he was hungry.

Therefore, Se-jun had not heard his own belly growling recently.

“Guys, let’s have lunch and continue.”

Se-jun spoke to the monkeys who were mixing yeast into the rice dough. Since the remaining work was the process of putting it in pots to ferment, it did not matter if they did it after eating.

After speaking to the Banana Monkeys, Se-jun left the brewery and hurriedly went to the kitchen area. If his own belly made a sound, a thunderstorm must be raging in Cuengi’s belly.

He had to hurriedly prepare lunch before Cuengi, who would have turned into a ferocious beast angered by hunger, arrived. However, until Se-jun finished setting the lunch table, the ferocious beast did not appear.

“Is he taking a nap somewhere? Guys, could you find Cuengi?”

Se-jun asked the Poison Honeybees to find Cuengi, but

Buzz.

[He is not in the farm.]

Cuengi was not in the farm.

“Where did Cuengi go?”

When Se-jun’s worry began to grow,

“It is my fault, meow! Because I told Cuengi that he had to get a Dragon Heart, Cuengi must have gone to catch a dragon, meow!”

“What?!”

Se-jun was shocked at Theo’s words. No matter how strong Cuengi was, he was not at the level of fighting a dragon.

While everyone was worrying about Cuengi like that,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. Se-jun-nim, are you by any chance looking for Cuengi?”

Kyurororong.

Iona, who had returned to the magic tower, brought back the sleeping Cuengi by lifting him with reverse gravity magic.

“Iona, where did you find Cuengi?”

“I heard an explosion and went there, and he was sleeping near the fire ant nest in the north.”

“What?! The northern region? Why there?”

At that time,

Sniff, sniff.

Cuengi twitched his nose and opened his eyes. He seemed to have fallen asleep exhausted from hunger.

And

Cueng!

[I smell something delicious-da-yo!]

As expected, Cuengi searched for food first as soon as he woke up. Cuengi tried to hurriedly run toward the place where the delicious smell was coming from.

But

“Cuengi, why did you go to the north?”

Se-jun asked, looking at Cuengi with a stern expression.

Cueng…

[Cuengi went to train his claws-da-yo…]

Intimidated by Se-jun’s stern expression, Cuengi answered carefully.

“Claw training?!”

Cueng! Cueng!

[That is right-da-yo! I will train my claws and have claws cooler than big brother’s Dragon’s Claws-da-yo!]

Since there was no way to obtain a Dragon Heart, Cuengi was the one who had thought of another method.

“There is no need for that, Cuengi. Dad will make Cuengi’s claws cool.”

In the case of the Fire Ant Queen, even Iona’s fur would get singed. No matter how strong Cuengi was, the north was dangerous.

Cueng?

[Really-da-yo?]

“Sure. Just trust Dad. First, let’s go eat.”

Se-jun easily persuaded Cuengi and went to eat.

‘How should I make cool claws?!’

While eating, Se-jun racked his brain. Se-jun was one who blurted things out first and thought of a solution later.

“Vice President Theo, demoted to President Theo for a day.”

“Meow?!”

Of course, he handed down a punishment to Theo, who had created this situation.