Chapter 265 – Why Is My Body Feeling So Sluggish

Click.

“Mushroom ant! Well done!”

Se-jun praised the mushroom ant while putting the black bean into the Golden Box of Abundance. Thanks to that, starting tomorrow, he would be able to obtain two black beans a day.

Kke-ek!

The mushroom ant raised its antennae even more upright at Se-jun’s praise and offered its back.

“Huh?! Why the back when there are no mushrooms?!”

As Se-jun wondered because there were no mushrooms on the mushroom ant’s back,

Kke-ek!

The mushroom ant was frustrated because it couldn’t speak with its own mouth.

“If it’s not mushrooms… Ah. Sorry! Is this what you want?”

When Se-jun pulled out the Black Dragon’s scale,

Kke-ek!

The mushroom ant nodded its antennae quickly and answered in a bright voice. What the mushroom ant wanted was a token of being Se-jun’s subordinate. It was the black dragon tattoo.

“Here.”

As Se-jun carved the black dragon tattoo on the mushroom ant’s back using the Black Dragon’s scale,

Kke-ek!

The mushroom ant bowed to Se-jun and hurriedly returned to the nest where its kin were. It was to brag about the black dragon tattoo to its kin.

Like that, the mushroom ant returned.

“Aileen, show me the authorities I can buy with the money I have.”

Se-jun called Aileen.

The money Se-jun currently had was approximately 26 billion Tower Coins, including the 25 billion Tower Coins Kaiser had given him and the money he originally possessed.

[The administrator of the tower tells you to wait a moment.]

After a while,

[Bestowable Authorities]

, , , , , …

[Enhancable Authorities]

, ,

Aileen showed the authorities Se-jun could buy with the money he possessed.

“So many?”

Se-jun was surprised to see the number of bestowable authorities. There were nearly a hundred authorities.

However,

[The administrator of the tower says that if you select one attribute blessing, you cannot select the opposing attribute, so choose carefully.]

Because choosing a blessing of one attribute meant the opposing attribute’s blessing could not be chosen, the actually bestowable authorities were fewer than fifty. Still, it was a large number.

“Aileen, how much is an attribute blessing authority?”

[The administrator of the tower says each attribute blessing authority costs 20 billion Tower Coins.]

‘Hmm… then buying one Blessing of Life and strengthening three authorities would fit perfectly.’

Se-jun, who always prioritized survival, naturally chose the Blessing of Life, which seemed to be related to survival. Having finished his calculations like that, Se-jun.

“Aileen, I’ll take the Blessing of…”

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I have money, meow!”

Theo, who had been doing something else until now and realized too late that Se-jun was shopping, pulled out a money bag from his bundle and shouted.

“It’s fine. Aileen, I…”

Se-jun, who had already chosen what to buy, was about to just purchase the authority.

But,

Thud!

At the heavy sound of the money bag Theo set down, his gaze naturally turned toward the money bag.

For a money bag enchanted with weight reduction magic to make such a sound… it was unusual.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, how is it, meow?!”

Responding to Se-jun’s reaction, Theo opened the money bag with a triumphant expression.

And,

“Wow!”

Seeing the money bag, Se-jun cheered.

As Se-jun expected, the money bag contained an enormous amount of money. A massive sum of 100 billion Tower Coins.

The money received earlier from selling Se-jun’s crops to Mimir and promising to feed him rice noodles for the rest of his life was 50 billion Tower Coins.

On top of that, the money received from selling the golden plate received from Uren to Mimir was 50 billion Tower Coins.

“Aileen, show me the authorities again!”

Thanks to that, the level of authorities Se-jun could buy rose tremendously, and

[The administrator of the tower says she understands.]

Aileen also became excited in tandem.

***

“Khehehe. That fellow Theo made me angry earlier, but now he does something praiseworthy again.”

Aileen, who was sulking at Theo, smiled and scrolled up the authority list appearing inside the crystal ball.

Swish.

As the list went up, authorities that she wanted to give to Se-jun but couldn’t even dream of due to being too expensive were seen.

With the money Se-jun had now, he could choose a few of the lowest-level authorities among those Aileen wanted to give him.

The three authorities selected like that.

“Se-jun, you can choose from these. All three cost 125 billion Tower Coins each.”

Aileen showed the authorities to Se-jun.

***

“Hmm…”

Se-jun fell into thought while looking at the authorities Aileen showed him.

By his feelings alone, he wanted to choose the destructive just by its name, or the which could overwhelm opponents with momentum alone.

But a pine caterpillar should eat pine needles; eating other things for no reason causes trouble.

And for some reason, when he tried to choose another authority, he got goosebumps, which felt ominous.

“Aileen, I’ll choose Become Abundant.”

Se-jun selected . Although he did not know it, it was the most excellent choice among the three.

required massive mana, so with Se-jun’s mana, using it once would cause death from mana exhaustion.

did not protect the caster, so one first had to be able to withstand Dragon Fear.

In other words, if he used Dragon Fear, the caster Se-jun would die first.

Because she was a dragon herself, it was a part Aileen couldn’t think of.

In the end, if he had chosen an authority other than , he would have died after using the authority or lost only his money because he couldn’t use it.

[The administrator of the tower says she will now begin bestowing the authority.]

“Yeah!”

Se-jun replied with a face full of anticipation.

And,

[125 billion Tower Coins deposited in the Seed Bank are paid.]

[The administrator of the tower bestows onto the Token of the Tower’s Mid-Level Administrator.]

Green light seeped into the back of Se-jun’s right hand. Fortunately, there was no pain.

“Should I see what kind of authority it is?”

Se-jun checked the newly acquired authority.

Everything that touches your hand becomes abundant.

An unfriendly explanation.

“Everything I touch becomes abundant?”

Se-jun brought his hand to the five-colored beanstalk visible in front to test it directly.

At that,

[ acts on the five-colored beanstalk.]

[The amount of the next fruit borne on the five-colored beanstalk doubles.]

The message that appeared.

“Double?!”

To think the amount of fruit doubles just by touching it once?! Se-jun got excited and used the authority on the crops in the surrounding fields.

Like that, when slightly over an hour passed since he used the authority on the crops,

“Huh? Why is my body feeling so sluggish?”

Se-jun suddenly felt his physical condition turning bad. Not all of a sudden, but his physical condition had gradually worsened as he used the authority.

However, Se-jun, who had been in an excited state due to the joy of doubling the yield, had only realized now that his physical condition had worsened.

“Why is it like this?”

When Se-jun, who had no such experience, was wondering,

[Hello, Se-jun!]

Podori, who was passing by, greeted Se-jun.

“Yeah. Podori, you’ve been well too, right?”

[Yes! Of course!]

Se-jun approached Podori while conversing.

‘It would be nice to get double the grapes too, right?’

Se-jun grew greedy for grapes upon seeing Podori.

Touch.

Se-jun placed his hand on Podori’s branch and used the authority.

And,

[ acts on the grape tree, Podori.]

“……”

Se-jun fainted while standing.

To use , life energy was required, but Se-jun had squandered his life energy without knowing anything.

That was why his physical condition had worsened.

Moreover, Podori, on whom Se-jun used the authority at the very end, was a candidate for the World Tree. To double the grape yield, an enormous amount of life energy was required.

All of Se-jun’s life energy began to be injected into Podori’s body, causing Se-jun to faint.

A pine caterpillar must eat pine needles, but eating too many will also kill it.

***

[Wow! I feel energized!]

When the life energy was injected, Podori sucked it in excitedly, unaware that it was Se-jun’s life energy.

But,

[Huh?! Something is strange?]

Suddenly, an ominous feeling arose.

So he quickly checked where the energy was coming from,

[Ack! Se-jun!]

And there was Se-jun, who was withering away in real-time as his life energy decreased.

[Se-jun! You mustn’t die!]

If Se-jun dies, I will also be killed by Aileen and Flamie! Podori quickly injected life energy back into Se-jun, recovering him.

But,

Thud

Se-jun collapsed, and contact with Se-jun was broken,

[No!]

So Podori became unable to supply life energy.

The explanation was long, but it was an event that occurred in a truly split second.

“Meow?! Chairman Park! Wake up, meow!”

Slap! Slap!

Theo, who possessed the Se-jun radar, immediately noticed Se-jun’s abnormality and quickly began to treat him.

And,

Kkueng?!

Kkueng also realized Se-jun’s condition was not good.

Kkueng!

[Papa, you mustn’t die, kkueng!]

Kkueng spilled tears and snot, hurriedly massaging Se-jun’s body.

Kkueng… Kkueng…

Knead, knead.

Every time Kkueng’s front paw massaged Se-jun’s body, a faint blue light formed and disappeared.

In his desperate heart to cure Se-jun, Kkueng unconsciously injected mana into Se-jun’s body, accidentally mastering the body-strengthening physical mana massage.

Fortunately, since Podori had injected enough life energy for Se-jun not to die before he collapsed, Se-jun rapidly recovered while receiving Theo and Kkueng’s massage.

But,

[The administrator of the tower rages, asking if you are the one who made our Se-jun like that!]

[I was wrong!]

[Podori! What on earth did you do to Master just now?!]

[I am sorry!]

Podori, who made Se-jun faint, had to be scolded in tandem by both Aileen and Flamie.

It was unfair, but the opponents were too overwhelming to talk back to.

‘It’s unfair!’

Podori shouted in his heart so that no one would hear.

***

“Up I get!”

Se-jun woke up feeling refreshed.

“When did I sleep?”

Having no memory of lying on the bed, Se-jun recalled his memory.

“Uh… as soon as I used the authority on Podori, I felt my strength drain away suddenly… and then…”

He couldn’t remember after that.

“Did I faint while using the authority? Why?”

While Se-jun was unable to find the reason why he fainted,

[The administrator of the tower asks if you are awake now and if your body is alright.]

Aileen spoke to him.

“Yeah. My body is fine. Aileen, but why did I faint while using the authority?”

Se-jun asked Aileen what he was curious about.

[The administrator of the tower says is an authority that uses life energy.]

[The administrator of the tower says she is sorry for not telling you in advance.]

“No. It’s fine. That can happen.”

Se-jun, unaware that he had almost gone to the afterlife, replied coolly and acted cool.

And,

“Meow…”

He lifted Theo, who was clinging to his lap as usual, and mounted him on his leg,

Scratch.

And marked the date on the bedroom wall.

“It’s already the 358th day.”

Only a week left and it would be one year since he got stranded. To think so much time had already passed…

“It was really scary back then…”

As Se-jun recalled the moment he first came to the tower,

Kkueng?

[Papa, is your body alright, kkueng?]

Kkueng, who had woken up from sleeping with Pinky, came to find Se-jun.

“Yeah. I’m fine now.”

Kkueng!

[That’s a relief, kkueng!]

At Se-jun’s reply, Kkueng felt relieved and clung to Se-jun’s leg.

“Let’s go eat breakfast.”

“Sounds good, meow…”

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[Great, kkueng! Kkueng is hungry, kkueng!]

Se-jun, with Theo replying half-asleep and Kkueng excited at the thought of eating breakfast hanging on his legs, headed to the kitchen.

Day 358 of being stranded. A peaceful morning on the 99th floor of the tower began.