Chapter 233 – Harvesting Rice

Black Tower Administrator Area.

– Kuhahaha. How has my granddaughter been?!

Kaiser, who returned to the Black Dragon territory in a good mood after drinking Samyangju with Kellion and Ramter, returned to the Black Tower through the Black Dragon statue.

“Grandfather, where did you go?! I had something to ask you.”

– Oh?! My Aileen had something to ask this grandfather?! What is it? Ask anything! Kuhahaha.

Since Aileen said she was curious about something, Kaiser was in the mood to answer anything.

“Well… I saw it while reading a book. There is a place where the sky is purple, the ground is green, and crustacean insects with many legs live. But the name of the place wasn’t mentioned, so I was wondering if you might know.”

The place Aileen mentioned was where Flamie had rooted, and Aileen could not think of any place even after hearing about it. That was why she was asking Kaiser, even lying to keep Flamie’s secret.

– Hmm… A purple sky and green ground… Ah! Of course I know!

Kaiser had something come to mind immediately upon hearing Aileen’s words. However, what Kaiser thought of was not a place, but the beings that created such a place. The Purple Dragons.

In the places where the Purple Dragons stayed, the ground turned green due to the toxic mana emanating from their bodies, and the atmosphere turned purple due to their breath containing poison.

“What is it?!”

– I don’t know the exact location, but it is a phenomenon that occurs when the Purple Dragons reside.

“Yes?! Purple Dragons?!”

– If it is the Purple Dragons’ territory or inside the Purple Tower, such an environment would be created.

Kaiser replied and looked at Aileen with suspicious eyes. There were no books about Purple Dragons in the library. ‘I threw away all the books about those unlucky Purple Dragons, though?’

While Kaiser was looking at Aileen with suspicious eyes,

“Ah! That’s right! Se-jun is making Samyangju again! He said he’s going to sell it for money this time!”

Aileen informed Kaiser that Se-jun was making new Samyangju. It was a promotion for Se-jun’s Samyangju.

– Really?!

As soon as he heard Aileen’s words, Kaiser moved to the brewery. Kellion would arrive in a little while. He thought of paying Se-jun first and preemptively taking the Samyangju before then.

Once Kaiser left,

“Phew…”

Aileen, who was nervous about tricking Kaiser, breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the crystal ball.

“Khehehe. Flamie, I found out where your roots are!”

[Really? Where is it?]

“I think it’s the Purple Tower. They say there’s a lot of poison there, are you okay?”

[I can tolerate the poison to some extent, but the bugs keep trying to gnaw on my body, so it’s a bit annoying.]

“What?! The bugs dare to annoy you, Se-jun’s tree?! This won’t do. I will teach you a few spells!”

Aileen began to teach Flamie magic.

***

Early morning.

Knead… knead…

‘Hmm? What is this?’

Se-jun woke up with the feeling of something pressing on his face.

“Puhehehe. Chairman Park, are you awake, meow?!”

When Se-jun woke up, Theo, who was kneading Se-jun’s face with his front paws, greeted him with a sly laugh.

And,

“Chairman Park, try drinking this, meow! It is honey water made from honey that the bees freshly gathered this morning, meow!”

Theo handed Se-jun honey water made by forcing the Poison Honeybees to wake up.

“Wh-what is it? Vice President Theo, why are you suddenly acting like this?”

Normally, Theo would be busy sleeping even when Se-jun woke up. But for Theo to give a massage and even honey water from early morning? It was beyond suspicious.

“Don’t feel burdened, meow! Just drink the honey water first, meow!”

‘You are the most burdensome…’

“Okay.”

At Theo’s persistent invitation, Se-jun drank the honey water for now.

Gulp, gulp.

The honey water slid down his throat.

“Ah. Refreshing.”

The honey water was sweet and refreshing.

When Se-jun drank the honey water,

“Puhehehe. Weren’t you hot while sleeping, meow?! I will fan you, meow!”

Gently.

Theo fanned him while waving his front paws.

“Why are you really acting like this?”

Se-jun asked, unable to bear Theo’s burdensome behavior any longer.

“Puhehehe. What do you mean, meow?”

Especially that sly laugh was very annoying.

“Why are you doing things you never did before!”

“Chairman Park, I want to keep being Vice President Theo, meow! So please lift the disciplinary action, meow!”

Was that it?!

“You can just go to the 65th floor of the tower and get the money.”

Se-jun could not understand why Theo was doing this since he could visit the Great Merchant and pay back the money to end it.

But,

“Chairman Park, listen to my words, meow!”

Theo, who intended to continue borrowing Se-jun’s money, not just this time. ‘I cannot live under discipline forever, meow!’ Theo began to earnestly persuade Se-jun.

“So, if the efficiency when Vice President Theo burns my money is 1, the efficiency when burning other money is 0.5?”

“Yes, meow! That is why I want to burn Chairman Park’s money, meow! Chairman Park’s money is the best, meow!”

“Hmm. Is that true?!”

Money is just money, so why only his?

“Okay. I will test one thing, and if it’s true, I will lift the discipline.”

“Really, meow?! Let’s test it quickly, meow!”

At Se-jun’s words, Theo, who wanted to quickly lift the discipline, shouted.

“Wait…”

When Se-jun was about to ask for help to measure combat power,

– Se-jun!

The combat power measurer… no, Kaiser, flew toward Se-jun on his own.

And,

– Take this!

He abruptly shoved 100 million Tower Coins into Se-jun’s hand.

“What is this?”

– Kuhahaha. What else? It’s the price for the Samyangju to be made in the future.

He paid the price for Samyangju in advance.

‘I was faster.’

Kaiser, checking the surroundings and confirming that Kellion had not arrived yet, laughed inwardly.

‘I should go and bring more money.’

As Kaiser was about to hurry and pack more money from the warehouse,

“Lord Kaiser, could I ask you for a favor for a moment?”

– A favor?! Of course!

At the mention of Se-jun’s favor, Kaiser readily agreed. Since the reward for the favor would be Samyangju.

“Please check how strong Theo becomes.”

– Sure. That’s not hard. Go ahead.

Kaiser replied and began to watch Theo closely.

“Yes! Thank you. Here, Vice President Theo, take the money. This is a gift from me.”

Se-jun handed 10 million Tower Coins to Theo.

“Thank you, meow!”

Flash!

Receiving the money from Se-jun, Theo burned it.

– Ho! A talent to grow stronger by burning Tower Coins, how fascinating!

Kaiser looked with fascination at Theo, who was glowing with a golden light while burning the money.

When the golden light disappeared like that,

“This time, it is a loan.”

Se-jun handed another 10 million Tower Coins to Theo. Although he did not understand changing the ownership of the money in such a formal way, he decided to try it as Theo said.

Flash!!

Theo emitted a golden light as he burned the money again.

“…?!”

Looking closely, even though he burned the same amount of money, even Se-jun could see that the intensity of the golden light was different from before.

“Lord Kaiser, how is it?!”

Se-jun asked Kaiser for an accurate assessment.

And,

– If we look at the strength gained just now as 100, the strength gained earlier was 49.

Kaiser gave a precise evaluation.

“It was true that he only grows stronger when burning my money?!”

“Puhuhut! Chairman Park, did you see, meow?! I was right, meow! Quickly lift my discipline, meow!”

Theo, whose grievance was resolved, laughed arrogantly again and clung to Se-jun’s lap.

“Lord Kaiser, thank you. Here is the Samyangju.”

Se-jun handed ten bottles of Samyangju to Kaiser, who had granted his favor,

Scratch.

and marked the date on the wall, starting the morning of the 351st day.

***

[This place is better to live in than anywhere I have ever rooted and lived.]

Wiggle, wiggle.

Pleased with this place, which had nutrient-rich soil and the kind farmer Se-jun, Podori excitedly rooted down.

At that moment,

Twitch.

Podori’s root bumped into another root.

And,

[Nice to meet you. I am Flamie.]

The opposing root offered a greeting.

[Flamie? Are you also a World Tree candidate?]

Podori, a World Tree candidate, asked Flamie.

[No. I am not anything like that?]

[What?! No?! Then shouldn’t you have greeted me, the World Tree candidate Podori, long ago?!]

Hearing that Flamie was not a World Tree candidate, Podori, thinking she was of lower status than himself, became angry. ‘The hierarchy of the farm is a mess. I must establish the hierarchy again!’

[Flamie, from now on, you will greet me every morning…]

As Podori was trying to establish a hierarchy over Flamie,

[I…]

[Yes?!]

Podori froze upon hearing Flamie’s reply.

[By the way, didn’t you just say you would do something every morning?]

[Ah! I was saying that I would greet Lord Flamie every morning! Please take good care of me in the future!]

Podori’s root bowed obsequiously toward Flamie’s root.

***

“Hey. I woke up too early because of you.”

Se-jun, who came outside and looked at the quiet farm, complained to Theo for waking him up early,

Purr, purr.

but Theo, who had returned to his old self, slept soundly without caring at all.

“Of course he is.”

Stroke, stroke.

Se-jun stroked Theo’s head. ‘Yes. You have to be like this to be yourself.’

“Shall I check the rice.”

Hanging the sleeping Theo from his leg, Se-jun walked to where the Golden Tree Stump of Abundance planted with rice was visible ahead.

And,

Slide.

He placed the ear of rice on his palm and examined it closely. There was no green color on the ear of rice at all; it was completely golden.

“Good. It’s ready to be harvested.”

Confirming that the rice was ready to be harvested, Se-jun took out the Scythe of Freshness

Slash.

and cut the rice.

Then,

[You have harvested 3,518 grains of Golden Rice.]

[Your job experience increases slightly.]

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

[Due to the cold effect embedded in the Scythe of Freshness, the shelf life of the harvested crops increases by 5 days.]

[You have acquired 246,260 experience points.]

The message that he harvested the rice appeared. Since there were many grains, the experience points were also high.

“Let’s see.”

Se-jun held up a grain of rice and examined it closely.

[Golden Rice]

Rice grown inside the tower, which is delicious as it absorbed sufficient nutrients.

Grown by a very excellent farmer, its effect is outstanding.

Upon consuming 100,000 grains of rice, the ‘Rice is Medicine’ effect occurs. (When the ‘Rice is Medicine’ effect is activated, Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Mana stats randomly increase by a total of 100 stats.)

Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Shelf Life: 155 days

Grade: A

“Is this good?”

The effect of total stats increasing by 100 upon eating 100,000 grains of rice seemed good, but since the number 100,000 grains looked very large, Se-jun was confused about whether it was good or bad.

“Well, does that matter?! The important thing is that I can eat white rice!”

Slash, slash.

Se-jun began to cut the rice diligently for now.

As he cut the last rice like that,

[You have leveled up.]

[You have obtained 1 bonus stat.]

The level-up message appeared, and Se-jun reached Level 67. The number of rice stalks planted in the pot was about 300. Since he obtained nearly 1 million grains of rice from the harvest, it was reasonable for him to level up.

“Okay. Now I have to mill it…”

Se-jun threshed all the rice hanging from the ears and fell into thought while looking at the rice fallen on the ground.

And,

Rub, rub.

Like grinding sesame seeds, he placed the rice between both palms and rubbed them together to mill the rice. Then, the husks of the rice fell to the ground.

“Oh! It works!”

Se-jun rubbed his palms even harder.

At that moment,

Crackle.

Electricity generated in his hand, and the rice was burned along with a savory smell.

“Ah! What is this?!”

Se-jun was flustered by the completely unexpected result.

“Guys, help me.”

In the end, unable to mill the rice alone, Se-jun mobilized all the monkeys, rabbits, mushroom ants, and even Poison Honeybees who were still sleeping to start milling the rice.

Rub, rub.

The monkeys and rabbits milled by rubbing their palms together like Se-jun,

Crunch, crunch.

and the mushroom ants and Poison Honeybees milled the rice with their front teeth.

At that moment,

Kkueng?

[Dad, what are you doing?]

Cuengi, who had just woken up, approached.

“Cuengi, you’re awake? Just wait a bit, Dad will feed you white rice.”

Kkueng!

[Cuengi will help Dad too!]

“Uh?! No…”

Before Se-jun could stop him, Cuengi grabbed a handful of rice with his front paw and began to grind the rice with just one paw.

But,

Sss.

Cuengi failed to control his strength and ended up grinding even the rice inside very finely.

On the 351st day of being stranded, Se-jun finally harvested the rice.