Chapter 168 – Is My Potential That Low

Theo felt good as Se-jun washed his sticky body clean without getting a single drop of water on his body. Although he took a bath, his fur was fluffy. There was no longer any need to show President Park a wet look with his fur-appeal gone, meow!

“Nyang-nyang-nyang!”

Hanging on Se-jun’s lap after the bath, Theo hummed happily.

And

“Where could Cuengi be?”

Se-jun, who came down from the fountain with Theo hanging on him, headed to where the young animals were eating snacks to find Cuengi.

Since Cuengi was also bound to have rolled on the rice cake cake earlier and turned into a beggar-like state, he intended to bathe Cuengi as well.

‘I should take it off before the rice cake hardens.’

Se-jun arrived at the place where the young animals were eating snacks.

However,

“Why is the atmosphere like this?”

the atmosphere of the place where the young animals were was strangely hostile.

Moo……

five young Black Minotaurs about 3 meters tall were lying on the ground,

Cueng!

and Cuengi was roaring with his fists raised in front of them.

Pyaaa…

Ummeng…

Behind Cuengi, completely frozen baby rabbits and a crying baby Black Minotaur about 1 meter tall were also visible.

‘Could it be our Cuengi?’

In an instant, a scene of Cuengi bullying other animals and fighting with the five Black Minotaurs who were trying to stop him played in his head.

Se-jun wondered if he had raised Cuengi too leniently, but in Se-jun’s memory, Cuengi had never hit others first. The Cuengi Se-jun knew was a very gentle, non-aggressive character.

‘Of course! There is no way our Cuengi would do that!’

When Se-jun solidified his faith in Cuengi,

Cueng!

Cuengi snatched a steamed corn from the hand of a fallen Black Minotaur.

“Huh?! Don’t tell me it’s to steal snacks?”

Se-jun’s faith in Cuengi began to shake in an instant. It was truly a faith like a reed.

Just then,

Cueng!

Cuengi gave the snatched steamed corn to the baby Black Minotaur who was sobbing behind him.

“Ah!”

Only then did Se-jun understand the situation. When the older Black Minotaurs took what their younger brother was eating, Cuengi stepped in to discipline them.

“Hehehe. Our Cuengi is cool.”

Se-jun, feeling needlessly proud, laughed.

Moo!

The baby Black Minotaur who received the steamed corn looked at Cuengi with eyes of respect. Receiving such looks of respect, Cuengi went to the fallen Black Minotaurs.

And

Cueng!

the giant-sized Cuengi helped them up and shared the snacks in his snack pouch.

Cueng!

Moo!

As they say that fighting makes people closer, Cuengi and the Black Minotaurs quickly became close. It was a heartwarming reconciliation scene that seemed right out of a shonen manga.

“Hehehe. Whoever raised him did a good job raising him.”

Se-jun watched Cuengi with satisfaction.

Just then,

Cueng!

Cuengi, who spotted Se-jun, ran over to him.

And

Cueng! Cueng!

[Cuengi’s snack pouch is completely empty! I will fill it up from Dad’s warehouse!]

Cuengi confidently demanded to take food from Se-jun’s subdimensional warehouse. Hmm… clearly our Cuengi was indeed non-aggressive, but why could he not erase the feeling that he was aggressive?

Clank.

Se-jun opened the subdimensional warehouse submissively with a confused expression. He wondered if, for shonen manga-like warmth to appear often, the parents’ pockets had to be abundant.

While Cuengi was filling his snack pouch from the subdimensional warehouse like that,

“Vice President Theo, please heal the kids.”

Today was everyone’s birthday. Se-jun, who wanted everyone to be happy, asked Theo to heal the young Black Minotaurs. Since their bodies were black, it did not show, but they must have been bruised from being hit by Cuengi.

“Understood, meow! You kids, come here, meow.”

Knead, knead.

Theo treated the young Black Minotaurs.

“Consider it an honor that I, Vice President Theo, am treating you directly, meow! By the way, I like that you kids seem like you would carry heavy loads well, meow! Do you have any thoughts of becoming my subordinates, meow?”

Of course, in the midst of that, while claiming credit, he did not neglect recruiting subordinates to sell more crops as Vice President Theo of Se-jun’s farm.

Cueng!

[I fill it all up!]

Meanwhile, Cuengi came out after filling his snack pouch. For reference, since Iona had added a space expansion function to Cuengi’s snack pouch, it currently had a capacity that could fill roughly the size of a small room.

“Cuengi, let’s go take a bath.”

Cueng!

[Understood!]

Since he originally liked baths, Cuengi did not refuse at all and submissively followed Se-jun to the fountain to take a bath. Of course, Theo, who had acquired the waterproof ability, entered the water together while clinging to Se-jun’s lap.

After finishing the bath like that,

Shake, shake.

Cuengi shook his body, shaking off the water on him. During that time, Se-jun stayed far away. This was because if he got hit by the water Cuengi shook off, it was quite painful.

Cueng!

[All done!]

Once Cuengi had shaken off almost all the moisture,

Rub, rub.

Se-jun approached and briefly wiped the remaining moisture with a towel.

Cueng. Cueng……

[Cuengi is sleepy. Cuengi is going to sleep for a bit……]

As Se-jun wiped his body, Cuengi began to doze off, perhaps feeling sleepy.

Snore.

Tap, tap.

While he was tapping the belly of the sleeping Cuengi like that,

[Ajax Mamuve, the White Tower Farmer, harvested 1 Elixir: Cherry Tomato Containing Powerful Mana.]

[5,000 Elixirs: Cherry Tomatoes Containing Powerful Mana were stored in the temporary storage of the White Tower.]

[The temporary storage of the White Tower was full.]

[Since crops could not be put into the temporary storage, the harvesting instructed to Ajax Mamuve, the White Tower Farmer, ended.]

“Huh?!”

Se-jun had tried to fill up to the maximum weight of 100 kg for a single transport because 1 million tower coins were needed to move crops from the White Tower to the Black Tower. However, there was a limit to the storage capacity of the temporary storage.

“To think only 5,000 could be stored… it can’t be helped. I will move all the crops in the temporary storage over here.”

Se-jun moved the crops to the Black Tower.

[1 million tower coins, the basic fee for transport between towers, was paid.]

[5,000 Elixirs: Cherry Tomatoes Containing Powerful Mana (50 kg) were transported to the Black Tower.]

“Ajax, resume harvesting.”

Of course, he did not forget to give remote instructions so Ajax would not play around.

A moment later,

Flash.

[5,000 Elixirs: Cherry Tomatoes Containing Powerful Mana (50 kg) arrived.]

A bright pillar of light fell in front of Se-jun, and when the light disappeared, 5,000 white cherry tomatoes harvested by Ajax appeared.

“Oh!”

Se-jun was amazed looking at the 5,000 Elixirs: Cherry Tomatoes Containing Powerful Mana. If he ate all of these, he could increase his mana by 50,000. Of course, because there was a high probability it would not go as he thought, he set the target modestly (?) at 10,000.

‘I should taste it first.’

Since he had been focusing on securing seeds until now, he had not had a chance to try the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes, so it was also the first time Se-jun was tasting the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes. Se-jun picked up a cherry tomato with an excited heart.

When Se-jun put a cherry tomato in his mouth and chewed,

Splash-!

‘······?!’

the skin of the cherry tomato was pressed, and along with sour juice, a cool energy burst into his mouth.

And

Gulp.

as if it were only natural, it just went down his throat. When he swallowed the elixir-grade cherry tomato like that, a cool feeling spread throughout his body from his stomach.

His body clamored to quickly send down the next cherry tomato. And Se-jun began to eat the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes hurriedly in accordance with his body’s demands.

How much had he eaten like that?

[You consumed Elixir: Cherry Tomato Containing Powerful Mana.]

[Your mana potential reached its limit.]

[You can no longer absorb mana.]

[Mana is discharged.]

“What?!”

Along with the message, Se-jun recalled the content of , which stated: ‘Increases mana by 50 regardless of physical potential.’

At that time he realized that there was stat potential, but to think he would reach the limit of his potential so quickly……

“Is my potential that low?!”

Se-jun was low even in potential.

‘So what is my mana stat potential?’

When Se-jun was about to check his mana,

Rumble.

“Urgh!”

suddenly his stomach hurt. Since it said mana was discharged, it seemed to be discharged from below.

“Vice… Vice President Theo! Keep watch here! I’m going to the bathroom!”

“Understood, meow!”

Se-jun hurriedly left the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes to Theo and ran to the bathroom inside the house.

While Se-jun was away like that.

Moo!

Kkack!

As if it had become a Blue Moon, the monsters nearby lost their reason and rushed toward the white cherry tomatoes.

When 5,000 elixir-grade cherry tomatoes gathered, although not as much as the Blue Moon, it had affected the monsters.

“Nyang?! You can’t, meow! Don’t eat them, meow!”

Theo stood in front of the rushing monsters to block them.

***

“Phew. That was close.”

Fortunately, Se-jun, who arrived safely at the bathroom, was relieved and leisurely examined his mana stat.

The bathroom had silence magic cast on it, so sounds from inside did not leak out and external sounds could not be heard, making it a good space to think.

Mana (157.94)

“It’s sad…”

Se-jun, who checked his mana stat, spoke with a hollow expression. Before eating the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes, Se-jun’s mana stat was 112. In other words, Se-jun had eaten 5 out of the 5,000 elixir-grade cherry tomatoes and passed out.

He could not digest even 50, let alone a modest 10,000. What was sadder was that no matter how many of the remaining 4,000-plus elixir-grade cherry tomatoes he ate, they would not be absorbed and would come out as feces.

“But my mana stat potential was 99.”

Se-jun calculated the remaining stats after subtracting the correction of the +6% mana stat effect from Talent: Enhanced Mana Circuit and the 50 increase in mana from from the mana stat shown in the stat window, and spoke.

Although he would have to check later, he had a feeling that the potential of other stats would also be 99. Perhaps 99 was human potential. Yes, it must be so. This was a human characteristic.

Se-jun decided his own characteristics as general human characteristics like that.

“Then I must have the highest mana stat on Earth.”

Even with the help of talents or items, there was a limit to raising stats beyond the potential of 99.

“Hehehe.”

Shifting his view from the 99th floor of the tower to Earth, Se-jun’s heart swelled.

When Se-jun came outside with such a swelled heart,

“Huh?! Where did it all go?!”

not a single one of the piled-up white cherry tomatoes was visible.

Just then,

“President Park, over here, meow.”

Theo’s voice was heard from beneath his feet.

“Huh?”

When Se-jun looked down, he saw Theo hiding under the stairs of the house.

“Vice President Theo, what are you doing there?”

When Se-jun naturally extended his knee and asked,

“I was protecting President Park’s cherry tomatoes, meow!”

Theo looked around, came out from under the stairs, and clung to Se-jun’s lap.

“Protecting the cherry tomatoes?”

“That’s right, meow! After President Park went to the bathroom……”

Theo explained what happened after Se-jun went to the bathroom.

“So the animals suddenly got excited and rushed in?”

“Yes, meow! So I put the remaining cherry tomatoes in my bundle and hid, meow…… But I couldn’t protect them all, meow……”

Theo spoke in a dejected voice. He said that because they rushed in so suddenly, the animals ate about 3,000 of them.

“It’s fine. Bring out the contracts. Vice President Theo, let’s do some work.”

“Puhuhu. Understood, meow!”

Theo, cheered up by Se-jun’s words, smiled slyly and pulled out a stack of blank contracts from his bundle. Now everyone is going to be my subordinate, meow!

And

“Cuengi, wake up.”

To identify the culprits, Se-jun woke up Cuengi, who was sleeping soundly even in the midst of that commotion.

Cueng?

[Why are you waking me up?]

Nom.

Se-jun put an elixir-grade cherry tomato into the mouth of the whining Cuengi.

Cueng! Cueng!

[It’s delicious! I feel energized!]

After eating the elixir-grade cherry tomato, Cuengi jumped up.

“Cuengi, find the animals that smell the same as what you just ate.”

Cueng!

[Understood!]

Sniff, sniff.

Cueng!

[I found them!]

“Oh! Already?!”

Cueng! Cueng?!

[It smells stronger from Dad’s mouth than the smell Cuengi smelled! How many did Dad eat?!]

“Huh?! No, not me…”

Se-jun had ended up caught first while trying to catch the animals that ate the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes.