Chapter 239 – Just Bear It for a Bit

“Since everyone is gathered, we will depart.”

Stella Heathron, the representative of the Silver Dragons, spoke once all the dragons dispatched from each clan to investigate the 10th tower had gathered.

Since it was Chrisella Heathron, the leader of the Silver Dragons, who proposed this matter, the Silver Dragons led the investigation team.

Thud, thud.

At Stella’s words, the dragons kicked off the ground and flew up into the sky.

“Then we depart. The vanguard is the Black Dragons and the White Dragons; the left flank is the Golden Dragons and the Blue Dragons; the right flank is the Brown Dragons and the Red Dragons…”

Stella assigned the positions of the dragons to form a formation. Considering the relationships between the dragons, she grouped together dragons that had good compatibility or were on good terms with each other,

and separated dragons that did not get along or had poor compatibility far apart, naturally forming a diamond formation.

‘It will be fine, right?’

Stella looked over the Green Dragons positioned at the rear. Honestly speaking, there was no dragon compatibility-wise that matched the Purple Dragons, who used poison.

It was just that the Green Dragons had the fewest troubles with the Purple Dragons, so they were placed next to them.

Flutter, flutter.

The dragons flying toward the 10th tower like that.

At that moment,

Kigigigik.

a mass of red mist that was spread around destruction made a strange sound and slowly flew toward them.

“It’s the dust of destruction! Prepare!”

Miles, who was in the vanguard, spotted the dust of destruction first and shouted.

The dust of destruction, things like dregs spewed out by destruction. The dragons called it the dust of destruction.

The red mist was too dangerous to be ignored as mere dregs. Once the dust of destruction exceeded a certain size, it would form a shape of its own and attack the tower.

Since it would require more than 100 dragons to step forward to defeat it then, the dragons usually performed tasks to eliminate the dust of destruction.

“Dragons, shoot your breath!”

“Understood!”

Following Stella’s instructions,

Kuooooh.

ninety dragons shot their breaths toward the dust of destruction simultaneously. Colorful breaths of black, white, silver, and other hues flew toward the red mist.

Kaboom!!

The red mist, hit directly by the breaths, created a giant explosion and was annihilated.

At that moment,

Clink.

coins fell from the place where the dust of destruction had vanished. They were Tower Coins. Approximately 100 million Tower Coins.

However,

“Moving again.”

since Tower Coins were nothing more than useless objects to the dragons, they simply ignored them and passed by, but

“Collect.”

“Collect.”

only the Black Dragons and the White Dragons quietly collected the Tower Coins. This was because they had recently heard from Kaiser and Kellion that they could buy and drink Samyangju with Tower Coins.

Since the other dragons had no interest in Tower Coins, the Tower Coins obtained by defeating the dust of destruction during the journey were entirely theirs to take.

‘Why are they picking those up?’

Instead, they had to endure the gazes of the other dragons looking at them strangely, though.

“We have arrived.”

After traveling for several hours like that, the 10th tower began to appear before them.

***

[You have arrived at the Black Tower 55th floor farm.]

[You have moved from the 99th floor of the tower, the top floor, to the 55th floor of the tower.]

[You have gone down 44 floors.]

[Due to the effect of , all stats increase by 44.]

“Oh!”

Se-jun could not hide his admiration as he looked around the surrounding trees. He felt as if he would get drunk on the sweet and uniquely fragrant aroma of the fruit.

Moreover, the fruit was flushed in a deep pink color on its skin, as if it was extremely happy to have ripened.

“It’s peaches!”

Se-jun cheered, looking at the peaches hanging fully on the trees.

“To think there were peaches here. I should have come sooner…”

Se-jun said, absorbing the aroma and appearance of the peaches fully with his nose and eyes.

But if he had come early, he would have been anxious waiting for the peaches to ripen, so it might have been a relief that he found out late.

At that moment,

Slurp, slurp.

(Mr. Se-jun, this is incredibly delicious!)

The Golden Bat, who had been sleeping while hanging on Se-jun’s back, was attracted by the peach aroma and before anyone knew it, was sucking the peach juice and shouted toward Se-jun. Fortunately, it seemed to be a soft peach that was easy for the Golden Bat to eat.

Clank.

“Cuengi, come out, there’s something delicious here!”

When Se-jun opened the sub-space warehouse door and called Cuengi,

Run, run, run.

Kkueng!

[I understand!]

Cuengi ran out quickly.

And,

Sniff, sniff.

Kkueng!

[It smells delicious!]

Smelling the scent with his nose and showing a happy expression,

Hop.

he lightly jumped about 2 meters and plucked a huge peach, the size of two fists, from the top of the peach tree.

Pluck.

Se-jun also plucked a peach from a nearby peach tree.

“Huh?! This one is hard?”

The peach Se-jun plucked was a hard peach.

“What is this? That’s strange.”

Se-jun had clearly plucked it from the tree where the peach the Golden Bat was eating grew, but he harvested a hard peach instead of a soft one.

“Both are here.”

When Se-jun touched other peaches on the same tree, there were both soft and hard peaches.

Miraculously, hard peaches and soft peaches were growing simultaneously on a single peach tree.

“This is good.”

While Se-jun, who was pleased to be able to eat both soft and hard peaches, was about to eat the hard peach he plucked first,

Kuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. I will give this to Dad!]

Cuengi held the peach he had just plucked with both paws and carefully handed it to Se-jun.

“Are you giving this to me?”

[Soft Peach of Vitality]

The peach Cuengi gave him had a name, unlike the others.

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[Yes! Cuengi plucked the peach that smells the most delicious!]

Cuengi nodded his head confidently at Se-jun’s question.

‘What is this?’

Se-jun was escalated by Cuengi’s sudden behavior of taking care of him. ‘Did the person from “Our Child Has Changed” come?’

‘Surely it isn’t bitter?’

Se-jun examined the peach closely with an anxious mind.

[Soft Peach of Vitality]

A peach overflowing with vitality that grows with extremely low probability on peach trees growing wild inside the tower.

The taste is sweet and very delicious.

Because the flesh is soft, it can easily bruise and spoil.

Upon consumption, you can learn the Skill: Vitality.

Usage Restriction: Lv. 10 or higher, all stats 10 or higher

Fortunately, there was no bitter taste.

“Vitality skill?”

As Se-jun was looking at the peach,

Kkueng!

[Dad, eat quickly!]

Cuengi drooled and urged Se-jun to eat quickly. How much he must have wanted to eat it…

“Yes. I will eat it well.”

Se-jun hurriedly bit into the peach to repay Cuengi’s heart.

Squish.

At the same time as he bit into it, the peach aroma fully permeated his mouth, and the juice held by the soft flesh overflowed.

Slurp.

Se-jun quickly sucked in the juice to prevent it from dripping and,

Squish.

bit into the peach again.

Mumble, mumble.

As Se-jun ate all of the peach diligently as if possessed,

[You have consumed the Soft Peach of Vitality.]

[You have learned the Skill: Vitality Lv. 1.]

The message that he learned the skill appeared.

[Skill: Vitality Lv. 1]

– Obtain vitality by quickly digesting the food remaining in the stomach.

– Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Mana increase by 1%.

– The duration is determined according to the amount of food remaining in the stomach.

Kkueng!

[Dad can also eat a lot and grow stronger like Cuengi now!]

Cuengi looked proudly at Se-jun, who had obtained the Vitality skill. ‘Now I can eat a lot with Dad!’

Kuhehehe.

While Cuengi was rejoicing that Se-jun could eat a lot,

Peep, peep!

a White Rabbit spotted Se-jun and Cuengi from afar and called its companions. ‘It’s a peach thief!’

Run, run, run.

At the cry of the White Rabbit, thousands of White Rabbits swarmed to punish the thief who stole and ate the peaches, surrounding Se-jun.

At that moment,

Squeak!

the leader of the White Rabbits recognized Se-jun and rushed into Se-jun’s arms. It was a sibling of the Black Rabbit born on the 99th floor of the tower.

“Have you been well?”

Squeak?!

[Uncle, why did you come so late?!]

Thanks to that, the misunderstanding arose and was resolved at the same time.

And,

[You have been recognized as the rightful owner of the land deed for the peach trees on the 55th floor of the tower.]

[The skill of the land deed: Farm Information Lv. Max is activated.]

He was easily recognized as the owner of the land deed.

Squeak! Squeak!

[Let’s go to the kingdom quickly! The Black Rabbit must be waiting!]

The White Rabbit urged Se-jun. The White Rabbit was trying to guide Se-jun to the Red Ribbon Royal Castle.

“Wait a moment.”

Se-jun stopped the White Rabbit.

“Let’s pick some peaches before we go.”

‘Our Cuengi hasn’t eaten a single bite of peach yet.’

“Cuengi, wait a moment. Dad will pluck peaches for you.”

Se-jun reassured Cuengi, whose pupils were shaking violently out of concern that they would leave without him eating the peaches.

Kkueng!

[I understand! Cuengi will wait quietly!]

Cuengi replied with a bright smile at Se-jun’s words.

Se-jun began to pluck peaches for Cuengi, who hadn’t eaten a single peach yet because he was plucking peaches for Se-jun.

***

“Are you following well, meow?!”

Theo asked, looking at the rabbits following him.

Squeak!

Squeak!

The rabbits replied to Theo’s question. It roughly meant they were following well, so lead the way quickly.

“I understand, meow!”

Theo walked in the lead again like that.

At that moment,

“Meow?! It’s a fork in the road again, meow!”

Theo’s front path split into two paths.

“I won’t be fooled this time, meow!”

Theo examined the path closely with the determination that he couldn’t be fooled three times.

But,

“What is this, meow?!”

this time, both paths looked natural.

“Puhuhut. It’s the right one, meow!”

Since he had always been fooled because he thought too much until now, Theo decided to trust his intuition this time.

“It’s this way, meow! Follow me, meow!”

Squeak?

[What?]

Squeak?

[I think he hesitated just now?]

“N-no, meow! I just rested for a bit, meow!”

Theo, flustered by the rabbits’ sharp suspicion, hurriedly made an excuse and entered the right path with the rabbits.

Squeak?

[I think I just heard a scream from the left?]

One White Rabbit following at the very back listened closely toward the left path, then hurriedly followed the group.

As they walked down the right path, the left path closed.

Thud.

The fragment of Jormungandr withdrew its head from the merchant passage and looked for other prey.

This time, Theo had guessed correctly.

***

Se-jun walking toward the royal castle of the Red Ribbon Kingdom following the White Rabbit, and

Crunch, crunch.

Cuengi walking while eating a hard peach.

“So that is the castle where the Black Rabbit is.”

Se-jun said, looking at the giant white castle visible in the distance. It was the White Castle, newly built after tearing down Grid’s grand mansion.

When they had walked toward the castle for about thirty minutes like that,

“Chairman Park~!”

Theo, who had delivered the rabbits safely to the castle and came out to find Se-jun, spotted Se-jun and ran over excitedly.

And,

Squeak! Squeak!

[Uncle! Cuengi!]

The Black Rabbit was running, following behind Theo.

“Oh! Coming to find us on your own… Cuengi, get ready.”

Kkueng!

[I understand!]

Munch, munch.

Gulp.

Cuengi replied, quickly finished eating the peach he was holding in his paw, and freed his front paws.

“Chairman Park~!”

Theo, who had drawn close to Se-jun in the meantime, threw himself toward Se-jun this time as well.

Swish.

Grab.

Se-jun reached out his hand to catch Theo, but failed to catch him this time as well.

“Chairman Park, I missed you, meow!”

Theo whined while rubbing his body against Se-jun’s face.

“Ptooey. You arrived early.”

“Meow.”

Se-jun said, grabbing the scruff of Theo’s neck. It felt as if this guy’s fur reset no matter how many times he brushed it.

Squeak! Squeak!

[Uncle, welcome! Guys, welcome!]

The Black Rabbit greeted Se-jun, Cuengi, and the Golden Bat who had come for his wedding.

“Black Rabbit, have you been well? How is the wedding prep? Is it hard?”

Squeak! Squeak…

[Yes! It’s extremely hard…]

Just as the Black Rabbit was replying,

“Cuengi, hold him!”

Squeak?

Grab.

Cuengi, who crept behind the Black Rabbit, put his front paws under the Black Rabbit’s armpits and pinned his paws so he couldn’t move.

“Black Rabbit, this is all for your own good. Hehehe.”

Kuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. That’s right!]

Se-jun and Cuengi laughed like villains.

“Just bear it for a bit.”

Se-jun pulled out the white kudzu root he had stockpiled in the sub-space warehouse.