Chapter 212 – Good Medicine for Stamina is Bitter

“Meow?!”

“Vice Chairman Theo, what is the matter?”

As Theo, who was walking well while going down the tower, suddenly stopped, Jeff asked.

“It seems Chairman Park has collapsed, meow!”

“Yes?! The Chairman?! Then should we go back?”

At the news that Se-jun had collapsed, the cats tried to turn back.

However,

“Meow… It is fine, meow! Although he fainted, Chairman Park’s condition has gotten better, meow! It is clear that he fainted after eating something bitter again, meow!”

This was Theo’s Se-jun Knee Detector, which could now know Se-jun’s physical condition in detail even from afar. Having accurately grasped Se-jun’s condition, Theo stopped the cats.

“Vice Chairman Theo, can you know the Chairman’s condition even from afar?”

“Puhuhut. That is right, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, can know everything about Chairman Park even from afar, meow!”

“Vice Chairman Theo, you are amazing!”

“Puhuhut. This much is nothing to the great Black Dragon’s subordinate, the deadly dragon claw yellow cat, Theo Park, meow!”

Thus, receiving the respect of the cats, Theo arrived at the hunters’ camp on the 41st floor of the tower with swaggering steps.

“Humans, Vice Chairman Theo has arrived, meow!”

As the cats announced Theo’s appearance,

“What?! Vice Chairman Theo?!”

“Theo came this early?!”

At Theo’s visit, which was earlier than expected, the hunters began to get busy. It was because he had returned just four days after his last visit. The hunters of the guilds who had bought goods from Theo were currently out of the tower to sell the crops.

And,

“Vice Chairman Theo, we will contact the hunters who went outside quickly, so please wait until the hunters return!”

The hunters asked Theo to wait. They currently did not have much money. Since they had invested all their money in buying crops, they needed the hunters who had gone outside the tower to bring back the money from selling the crops.

“Understood, meow! You guys, sell cherry tomatoes here, meow!”

“Yes!”

Theo also had no intention of selling Se-jun’s crops for pocket change. Therefore, he had the cats sell the cherry tomatoes and headed toward the Black Orcs’ camp.

***

“Ugh…”

Se-jun, who had fainted while experiencing a terrible bitter taste, opened his eyes.

(Se-jun, are you awake?)

The Golden Bat, who had been hanging from the bedroom ceiling watching Se-jun, flew down and sat on Se-jun’s chest as he spoke.

“Yeah. How long did I sleep?”

(It is now 3 hours before breakfast. Se-jun, you slept through the entire night.)

“Really? No wonder my body felt refreshed.”

Se-jun raised his body while conversing with the Golden Bat.

And,

Scribble.

He went to the bedroom wall that displayed the date and added a stroke, beginning the 336th day of being stranded.

“Huh?! What is that?”

As soon as he went outside, Se-jun discovered a giant golden tree stump placed in the front yard of the house. Aileen had placed it in front of the house yesterday after Se-jun had eaten the kudzu root and fainted.

Se-jun approached the tree stump and examined its options.

[Golden Tree Stump Flowerpot of Abundance]

[It is a divine artifact created by Rhea, the Goddess of Abundance who governed ancient abundance, by infusing her power when her cherished tree died.]

[Rhea, the Goddess of Abundance, wrote her name on the side.]

[Crops planted in the life-overflowing tree stump flowerpot of abundance grow 10 times faster due to the power of abundance.]

[When the power of abundance is exhausted, the golden light disappears. (Can be used again once the golden light is restored.)]

Usage Restrictions: One who has cultivated crops, Magic Power 100 or higher

Creator: Rhea, the Goddess of Abundance

Grade: SS

“Hehehe. This was a divine artifact?!”

Having checked the item’s options, Se-jun could not hide his joy. It was because of the 10x growth speed option. If he planted rice here, it seemed he would be able to eat rice within a month.

Se-jun took out 50 rice seeds he had planted in the field and transplanted them into the tree stump flowerpot.

“Grow quickly.”

Se-jun stood up after looking at the spot where the rice seeds were planted with loving eyes.

And,

“Aileen, thank you.”

He expressed his gratitude to Aileen, who had appraised the item.

[The tower administrator boasts that she is now a Black Dragon who can appraise divine artifacts as much as she wants.]

[The tower administrator says that she will perfectly appraise your items in the future as well.]

At Se-jun’s gratitude, Aileen spoke with pride.

Aileen had listened intently to Kaiser about the names of gods and divine artifacts, and had also studied separately in the library.

As soon as she saw the name ‘Rhea’ written on the side of the divine artifact, Aileen thought of Rhea, the Goddess of Abundance, and perfectly appraised the divine artifact without Kaiser’s help.

“Yeah. Of course, I only trust Aileen.”

[The tower administrator says that she also trusts only you.]

Although their focuses were slightly different, the conversation between the two flowed naturally.

At that moment,

[You have learned the name of Rhea, the forgotten Goddess of Abundance.]

[Among the items in your possession, there is an item related to Rhea, the Goddess of Abundance.]

[The grade of the perfectly appraised Golden Box of Abundance rises by one step to S+.]

A message appeared stating that the grade of the Golden Box of Abundance had risen. It seemed the Golden Box of Abundance was also an item created by Rhea.

Se-jun opened the subspace warehouse and checked the options. The original effect, where putting in one crop would increase it by one the next day, had now changed to increasing it by two. It had gone from 1+1 to 1+2.

“Ah, right! Aileen, are you running low on cherry tomatoes? I will give you more here.”

Se-jun made a satisfied expression and handed 3,000 cherry tomatoes to Aileen. A few days ago, he had received 5,000 elixir-grade cherry tomatoes harvested by Ajax via inter-tower transport.

The remaining cherry tomatoes were planned to be used as snacks for the animals.

“I should go to the brewery.”

After giving the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes to Aileen, Se-jun headed to the brewery. Come to think of it, he had not even tasted the double-brewed liquor. He was curious about how the taste changed when makgeolli became double-brewed liquor.

As he was heading to the brewery like that,

“Ah!”

Se-jun recalled that he had not checked the talent he had obtained yesterday. When consumed, it definitely had the effect of awakening a stamina-related talent in addition to increasing stamina potential by 100.

“Let’s see. Shall I check what talent I have?”

Se-jun opened the status window and checked the talent window.

And,

“Huh? Good Medicine for Stamina is Bitter?”

He checked the talent with a strange name.

[Talent: Good Medicine for Stamina is Bitter]

-When consuming bitter-tasting medicinal herbs, Stamina increases by 1 to 10 depending on the degree of bitterness.

-Poisons of D-grade or lower will also produce the effect of medicine rather than poison if they taste bitter.

“Is it good?”

If eating bitter things in the future would increase his stamina additionally, and bitter poisons of D-grade or lower would act as medicine, it was definitely good… but strangely, he felt uneasy.

He felt a massive malice trying to push bitter-tasting foods onto him in the future. Carrying his uneasiness, Se-jun headed to the brewery.

***

The lair of the Red Dragons.

Hmm…

Ramter, the great Red Dragon and head of the Zahir Family, let out a low groan.

“As expected, there is no one making the Essence of Fire.”

Ramter was greatly surprised when he heard from Anton that the Essence of Fire had been discovered in the Black Tower.

He was surprised once again by the fact that they themselves had forgotten that they had to make the Essence of Fire.

And although he hurriedly ordered the Red Dragons to make the Essence of Fire, the Red Dragons who were not yet 10,000 years old could not fill even a few hours before stopping. In just a few hours, they had forgotten that they had to make the Essence of Fire.

Realizing the severity of the matter, Ramter personally visited the Red Dragons one by one and ordered them to make the Essence of Fire. It was because he did not know when he himself might forget the fact that he had to make the Essence of Fire.

Although Anton had said he would come in the middle and check if the Red Dragons had forgotten to make the Essence of Fire…

“To receive help from another dragon!”

Ramter’s pride did not allow that.

At that moment,

“Huh?”

Ramter discovered a Red Dragon making the Essence of Fire even though he had not ordered him to. It was Felix Zahir. A dragon who had just turned 5,000 years old, who had been serving as the tower administrator until a few days ago before being replaced.

‘Why is only that fellow fine?’

Feeling doubtful, Ramter observed Felix closely.

And,

Gulp. Gulp.

“Puha! Good!”

He discovered that Felix was drinking alcohol in between making the Essence of Fire.

“Does alcohol have an effect?”

Since there was no suitable method right away, Ramter made five dragons under 10,000 years old drink alcohol while making the Essence of Fire.

And,

“It has an effect.”

The effect was marvelous. The Red Dragons who made the Essence of Fire while drinking alcohol did not forget to make the Essence of Fire even after a day had passed.

***

“This is double-brewed liquor? Wow. The scent is truly deep.”

As Se-jun admired the scent of the double-brewed liquor in the cup,

Ukki!

Ukki!

The monkeys rejoiced. They had received recognition from the god they served.

Slurp.

Although it was still morning, Se-jun drank the alcohol. And in one shot, too. Once he smelled the scent, he could not resist drinking it.

Gulp.

The alcohol smoothly went down his esophagus.

“Kya… It is sweet.”

Although he wanted to drink a few more cups in his heart, double-brewed liquor was an intermediate stage of alcohol. It had to be fermented for about five days after adding the second brew to be completed as triple-brewed liquor.

“Drip down.”

Tap tap.

Just as Se-jun was shaking off the remaining alcohol in his cup with a lingering regret,

Kkueng!

[Dad, Cuengi is hungry-da-yo!]

Cuengi called Se-jun from in front of the brewery. Now was not the time for this. He did not know when Cuengi might turn into a ferocious beast.

“Just a moment!”

Se-jun hurriedly snapped out of it and came outside.

And,

“Crop Giantization. Cuengi, eat this while waiting.”

Se-jun, who had made a sweet potato giant and given it to Cuengi, went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast.

“Guys, let’s eat breakfast!”

Se-jun prepared cabbage soup for the first time in a while and called the animals. He was a Se-jun who had not yet given up on the wind attribute talent. However, this time was also a failure.

“Ah. I should have made and eaten it yesterday…”

Se-jun regretted it too late, but the luck had already passed.

“Is today the day to pick corn?”

After eating breakfast, Se-jun went to the cornfield. Because the farm was so large and there were many crops planted, almost every day was a harvest day.

“Shall I do some harvesting?!”

Se-jun picked up the Sickle of Freshness that the penguins had given him and began to cut the base of the corn.

And,

Slash.

[You have harvested 7 Corns of Stamina.]

[Your job experience increases slightly.]

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

[Due to the cold effect infused in the Sickle of Freshness, the shelf life of the harvested crop increases by 5 days.]

[You have acquired 350 experience points.]

The shelf life increased by the effect of the Sickle of Freshness. Honestly, Se-jun thought this C+ grade sickle, which increased the shelf life by 5 days, was better than the S+ grade Greatsword of Amplification. As expected of a farmer.

When he had been harvesting corn like that for about an hour,

[The Corn of Stamina is grateful for the farmer’s footsteps and contributes its strength.]

[The potential of your Stamina stat increases by 1.]

Se-jun’s Stamina potential increased.

“Yes, this is it.”

Se-jun wore a proud expression. The 1 Stamina potential obtained by moving his body, harvesting corn, and walking diligently felt more satisfying than the 100 Stamina potential obtained by eating something bitter and fainting yesterday.

“Ah, so rewarding.”

Just as Se-jun was happily harvesting corn again,

Kkueng!

[Dad, Cuengi brought something for Dad to eat-da-yo!]

Having found a good medicinal herb somewhere, Cuengi sought Se-jun with a loud cry.

“No. I said I am fine…”

Se-jun found Cuengi’s filial piety burdensome.