Chapter 189 – Did I Not Treat It Well

“Meow-meow-meow.”

Tap.

Theo, who entered the auction hall, sat in the very center seat of the auction hall. It was because there were not many seats left and that seat was the most luxurious.

“Puhuhut. It’s soft, meow~”

Theo, satisfied with the seat, curled his body into a loaf shape and waited for the auction to begin.

At that moment,

“Who are you?”

A giant shadow covered Theo as a dignified voice asked.

However,

“Step aside, meow! I can’t see, meow!”

Theo casually expressed his annoyance toward the 5-meter-tall existence with an eagle’s head blocking his path. To Theo, who lived on the 99th floor of the tower, this level of size and dignity was nothing.

Because he lived with even more amazing existences every day. Of course, since he was with Se-jun’s lap, he was not intimidated at all, whether by a Black Minotaur or a dragon.

“Not only did you dare to sit in my seat, but you tell me to get lost?! You punk!!!”

When the eagle head, enraged by Theo’s words, shouted,

“Hiss! Hiss! I sat down first, so it’s my seat, meow!”

Theo fought back without backing down.

“What did you say?!”

“Lord Jeto, what is the matter?”

When a commotion broke out, Patton rushed over.

Patton had been cheering inwardly and waiting for a commotion to occur when Theo sat down in the seat reserved for the highest-ranking participant in the auction. It was because he had heard that Great Merchant Jeto, one of the three great merchants, was coming today.

‘If that cat incurs the wrath of Great Merchant Jeto-nim, I won’t have to be disciplined either.’

He could just say that he tried to block the existence that seemed likely to cause a commotion first.

“Great Merchant Jeto-nim, I clearly told the top-tier wandering merchant, Theo Park-nim, never to sit here, but it was my oversight for not checking.”

Patton informed Jeto that Theo was a top-tier wandering merchant under the guise of apologizing. He let him know that he could trample him as much as he wanted.

“Get down quickly! That is not a place for Theo Park-nim to sit!”

Patton shouted at Theo and embarrassed him.

However,

“The… Theo Park?!”

At Patton’s words, Great Merchant Jeto was not crushing Theo but was terrified. Jeto had heard about the cat wandering merchant Theo from Mason, the president of the Traveling Merchant Association, warning him to be careful if he met him.

An existence who introduced himself as the subordinate of the Great Black Dragon. The Secret Inspection Bureau run by the Traveling Merchant Association reported the reliability of Theo’s words to be 99.99% through continuous investigations.

They confirmed that Theo’s words were true through cross-validation of the Black Wolf tribe, Silver Wolf tribe, and Black Orc tribe.

And as a result of investigating the helmets that the bosses of the 83rd, 77th, and 49th floors of the tower had received from the Great Black Dragon, they even completed the component analysis matching them with dragon bones.

But that was not all of Theo’s identity.

The older brother of the Black Rabbit, king of the Red Ribbon Kingdom on the 55th floor of the tower, which would hold its founding ceremony in a month.

The object of unrequited love of Iona, the Archmage of Destruction.

Every single identity was nothing short of amazing. The second one was a misunderstanding from seeing Iona following Theo around, but Iona, who would clarify, was busy focusing on research in the magic tower.

“Excuse me… Great Merchant Jeto-nim?”

Patton, sensing the strange atmosphere, slinked a glance at Jeto.

And,

‘I’m ruined!’

Looking at Jeto’s pale face, he realized that something had gone wrong. He had lined up on the wrong side. To think this shabby-looking cat wandering merchant was more influential than Great Merchant Jeto?!

“Ahem. I am sorry. I failed to recognize Theo Park-nim and committed a discourtesy. As an apology, I will buy you one of the items up for auction today.”

Jeto did not want to make an enemy of Theo, so he quickly apologized and tried to appease Theo’s mind with a gift.

However,

“Is it not possible to buy all of them, meow?”

Theo Park, the subordinate of the Great Black Dragon, had very little (?) shame.

“Ahem. That is… a bit…”

“Then how about five, meow?!”

“How about two?”

“Then how about five, meow?!”

“Pardon?!”

Jeto asked back with a dumbfounded expression, thinking he had misheard. He had clearly said five was not possible and suggested two, but to suggest five again?

It was the same for the surrounding merchants, who were watching in expectation of a bargaining war. This was closer to blackmail than bargaining.

“It’s five, meow!”

“How about three?”

“I hate that, meow! It’s five, meow!”

“Then four…?”

He shook his head.

Theo shook his head violently. The moment he entered the auction hall, there were five items from which he felt a pull. He needed five, meow!

“Sigh. Understood. Let’s make it five.”

“Puhuhut. Good, meow! Sit next to me, meow!”

Theo, who was now able to take credit with Se-jun without spending a single penny of his own money, shifted his seat to the side and magnanimously made room for Jeto to sit.

“Thank you.”

In that way, Theo sat down together with Jeto.

“Patton, where are you going, meow?! Wait here until the auction ends, meow!”

He called Patton, who was trying to sneak away. Not only had he ignored him and blocked the entrance, but he had also tried to put him in trouble again. Puhuhut. How insolent, meow! He was insolent, but Theo laughed at the thought of putting Patton to work in the future.

At that moment,

“The land deeds to be sold today total twenty. Then, we will start the auction with the first land deed. The starting price is 500,000 tower coins.”

The auctioneer stepped forward and started the auction.

***

Administrator Zone.

“Hehehe. Work start!”

Aileen began using her magic power to engrave magic onto the fragment of Kai-la’s dragon heart.

However,

“Ugh… Grandmother, it’s hard.”

She got exhausted just one minute after starting the work with high spirits. An enormous amount of magic power was required to engrave the magic that Kai-la’s residual thoughts had taught her. It was always like this; she started with high spirits and got tired quickly.

“Nom. Nom. Nom.”

Whenever that happened, she ate the elixir given by Se-jun: the Cherry Tomato holding powerful magic power, and recovered her magic power. Normally, she would have rested like this, but she could not do so now.

“Shall I start again! Se-jun, wait just a little, I will give you something better than that Emila!”

Aileen hardened her resolve and engraved magic on the dragon heart fragment again.

***

“Now we will sell the 7th land deed. The starting price is 50,000 tower coins!”

“That’s it, meow!”

Theo, who had been licking only his own body diligently until now, shouted.

“Are you really going with that one?”

Jeto asked again at Theo’s choice. He was grateful, but he could not understand as a merchant why Theo would buy such a land deed.

“That’s right, meow!”

Theo replied firmly to Jeto’s words.

“Understood.”

‘I saved money!’ Jeto said inwardly with a smile. Because it was an extremely unpopular land deed, Jeto won the bid for the land deed at a cheap price of 200,000 tower coins.

“That’s it, meow!”

“That’s it, meow!”

Theo subsequently won the bids for all the land deeds from the 8th to the 10th. They were the most unpopular land deeds that served as a break in between. Jeto found it strange that Theo wanted such land deeds, but

‘Puhuhut. You guys don’t know how happy President Park will be when I bring these back, meow!’

Theo was grinning, unable to hide his joy.

When the auction for up to the 15th land deed ended like that,

“For the remaining five land deeds, we have prepared unappraised land deeds on purpose for the bidders’ fun. The starting price for all these land deeds will begin from 100,000 tower coins.”

The auctioneer started the auction for the five unappraised land deeds. It was a land deed draw.

“110,000 tower coins!”

“120,000 tower coins!”

Merchants who enjoyed the thrill participated in the auction and raised the asking price. Four land deeds were sold like that. Most were sold around 200,000 to 250,000 tower coins.

And finally, the last land deed came up to the auction stage.

“This last land deed is a bit special. Originally, the land deeds we prepared were nineteen. However, this land deed suddenly appeared through spatial movement.”

“What? The land deed moved through space?”

The merchants murmured at the auctioneer’s words.

“Yes. It sounds like a lie, but it is true. Experts analyzed the magic power and found out that it is a land deed of the Green Tower. Since we also obtained it for free, the asking price will start from 10,000 tower coins.”

“That’s it, meow!”

“Understood.”

At Theo’s words, Jeto won the bid for the last land deed. Since not many merchants wanted a land deed of the Green Tower, it was won at 30,000 tower coins.

***

Pluck.

[You harvested 20 Potatoes of Strength.]

[Your job experience increased slightly.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 7 increased slightly.]

[7,702,173 times remaining until the completion of the job quest.]

Se-jun moved his body, harvesting potatoes to digest the ramen he had eaten for dinner. He intended to digest the ramen, eat a piece of Aileen’s Healthy Fist Meat, and go to sleep.

“Hehehe. The potatoes are fully grown. I should eat potato soup tomorrow.”

Se-jun spoke in a joyful voice, looking at the potatoes hanging in clusters along the potato stems.

Pluck.

Pluck.

Now, since his Strength, Stamina, and Agility were all high, his harvesting was incredibly fast. Thanks to that, it took only one hour to harvest 20,000 potatoes.

As the harvest of the 1,000-pyeong potato field was almost finished like that, he felt his stomach empty slightly.

Nom.

Gulp.

[You consumed a piece of Aileen’s Healthy Fist Meat.]

[The effect would be activated only when all of the food was consumed.]

[77 pieces remaining.]

As there was room in his stomach, Se-jun swallowed the piece of meat.

And,

Pluck.

He harvested the remaining potatoes. Since there were only ten left, he intended to just finish it up.

Just as he was harvesting the last potato,

[You harvested 20 Potatoes of Strength.]

[You harvested a Venom-Infused Potato.]

[Your job experience increased slightly.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 7 increased slightly.]

[7,702,173 times remaining until the completion of the job quest.]

Among the harvested potatoes, another potato was mixed in. A pitch-black potato was visible among the yellowish potatoes.

“Huh?! A Venom-Infused Potato?”

Pick.

When Se-jun picked up the potato,

[You achieved the feat of creating a new species in the tower.]

[Your exclusive cultivation right for the new species was recognized in the tower.]

[The Venom-Infused Potato could not be cultivated without your permission.]

[Your job experience increased significantly.]

[All stats increased by 10 due to your job characteristic.]

A message saying that a new species had been created appeared.

“Oh!”

Se-jun cheered at the message that all stats increased by 10. Although he did not benefit even by 1 in his Magic Power stat due to its potential limit, he was still satisfied.

“But why is its name like this?”

‘Did I not treat it well?’ Se-jun wondered as he examined the black potato.

[Venom-Infused Potato]

It was a potato grown inside the tower that absorbed enough nutrients, but for some reason, it accumulated only venom.

It tasted extremely bitter.

Upon consumption, one was poisoned by A-grade paralysis poison.

Upon consumption, one was poisoned by A-grade acid poison.

Upon long-term consumption, the talent: Poison Resistance could be obtained.

When planted in the ground, it contaminated the surrounding ground with poison.

If planted together with a crop that has detoxifying ability, the detoxifying ability of the detoxifying crop would improve.

Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Expiration Date: 120 days

Grade: B

“Still, it’s useful in its own way.”

He had thought about just throwing it away due to the extremely bitter taste and being poisoned by A-grade poison, but since planting it together with the Detoxifying Green Onions could raise the ability of the Detoxifying Green Onions, it seemed decent.

Se-jun cut the Venom-Infused Potato into four pieces, making sure each contained a bud eye, and planted them one by one in the middle of the Detoxifying Green Onion field.

At that moment,

“Huh?”

Se-jun discovered a land deed fallen on the ground of the Detoxifying Green Onion field.