Chapter 330 – Conquering the Last Trial of the 10th Tower

Headquarters of the Korean Awakened Association.

“The Black Locust has appeared in Russia? That can’t be…”

Han Tae-jun, who had returned from training with Kim Dong-sik on the 44th floor of the tower, was flustered after receiving his subordinate’s report.

The Black Locust was a species that had evolved one step further from the Purple Locust.

‘That means the number of locusts has increased…’

As long as the Sturdy Blade Green Onion and the Detoxifying Green Onion existed, there was no way the number of locusts could increase.

“Where did they come from?”

“Yes, that’s right. Suddenly, over Vladivostok…”

The subordinate explained what had happened and showed a black crow on a tablet.

“This crow is leading the Black Locusts?! So what is the situation?”

“Currently, the Black Locusts have devastated Vladivostok and are rapidly moving north.”

“Northward movement? What about the defense line?”

To stop the locusts, they must have planted the Sturdy Blade Green Onion and the Detoxifying Green Onion…

“Because their bodies are hard and they are not poisonous, Se-jun’s Sturdy Blade Green Onion and Detoxifying Green Onion do not work on them.”

“Groan…”

Han Tae-jun let out a low groan at his subordinate’s report.

“They are probably targeting the Black Tower in Harbin.”

“Harbin…”

“Currently, even China has sensed the seriousness of the situation and is putting hunters on standby in Harbin.”

“I understand. You may leave.”

After sending his subordinate out like that, Han Tae-jun picked up his smartphone and called someone.

“Yes, Tae-jun-nim.”

“Lucilia, the Earth Defense Force is to dispatch to Harbin.”

“Understood.”

Han Tae-jun ordered the Wizard Guild Leader, Lucilia, to summon the Earth Defense Force.

***

[You have stored 10% of your life force while sleeping.]

[The Bead of Life is 1.65% complete.]

0.1 mana has accumulated over 24 hours.

[Your Mana increases by 0.1.]

“Nice…”

Se-jun opened his eyes from sleep, read the message, and smiled sheepishly.

And,

Gororong.

Arolong.

Kirorong.

He enjoyed the lingering warmth of sleep while listening to the snoring sounds of Theo, Ajax, and Kkamang-i.

Wiggle, wiggle.

Lying down and moving his toes. *Hehehe.*

After fully enjoying the afterglow of sleep like that,

“Let’s go!”

Se-jun stretched out long and got out of bed.

“Meow?”

“Hyung… are you awake?”

Whimper…

‘It’s noisy…’

Thanks to him, the three of them woke up.

Grab.

“Meow…”

Se-jun grabbed Theo by the scruff of his neck and placed him on his leg,

Tap.

Whimper…

picked up Fenril and put him in his pocket,

Snugly.

and came out with Ajax in his arms.

And,

Step, step.

took a walk around the farm.

Gororong.

Arolong.

Kirorong.

Before they knew it, the three had fallen asleep again.

While Se-jun was walking on the farm like that,

[The Five-Colored Beans express gratitude for the farmer’s footsteps and lend their strength.]

[Your Strength stat potential increases from 1193 to 1194.]

Se-jun’s Strength potential had increased.

“There were Five-Colored Beans here too?”

Se-jun discovered a new Five-Colored Bean field created by the mushroom ants.

“Shall we eat cold bean noodles for lunch?”

When Se-jun saw the beans, he suddenly thought of cold bean noodles.

Tap, tap.

[You have harvested 5 Five-Colored Beans.]

[Your job experience increases slightly.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 8 increases slightly.]

[You have acquired 350 experience points.]

…

..

.

He started harvesting the beans by picking the pods.

After a while,

Cuengi?!

[Where is Dad-da-yo?!]

He heard Cuengi’s voice from far away searching for Se-jun, who wasn’t home.

“Cuengi, here!”

Se-jun announced his location and hurried back home with the harvested beans, then soaked the beans and made breakfast.

The breakfast menu was simply pancakes.

Kuhehehe!

“Ehehe!”

“It’s delicious!”

Cuengi, Ajax, and Veronica enjoyed the pancakes dipped in or sprinkled with honey.

Slurp.

Se-jun also ate pancakes with coffee.

Once sugar entered his head like that,

“Ah, that’s right!”

Se-jun remembered something he had forgotten. Yesterday he had been too out of it…

Clank.

Se-jun opened the subspace warehouse and said,

“Aileen, this is a gift.”

He took out a Deep Darkness Cherry and sent it to Aileen.

***

“Hehehe. Pancakes today?”

Aileen whetted her appetite while looking at the pancakes piled high on the plate Se-jun sent.

“Hehehe. As expected, all of Se-jun’s food is delicious!”

While Aileen was enjoying the pancakes dipped in honey like that,

[Black Tower Farmer Park Se-jun has sent a Deep Darkness Cherry.]

“Hing?”

A dark red fruit appeared in front of Aileen.

“Huh?! This?!”

Aileen checked the cherry’s options.

Yum.

She ate the cherry right away.

Then,

[You have consumed a Deep Darkness Cherry.]

[The power of darkness accumulates minutely in your body.]

[You are the first among the black dragons to recover the power of darkness.]

[As a perk, if you consume something containing the power of darkness, the power of darkness accumulates twice as much.]

messages appeared.

At that moment,

Wiggle.

Aileen’s shadow flickered for a moment. Aileen had moved the shadow without realizing it.

Moving shadows was one of the many uses of the power of darkness.

“Hehehe. It’s our Se-jun, of course!”

Aileen increased her dark power by eating the Deep Darkness Cherries, whose effects were doubled thanks to the special perk.

Of course, she kept the cherry seeds separately to give to Se-jun.

***

[The tower administrator says she was touched by your gift.]

[The tower administrator says she is extremely grateful.]

“Hehehe. I’m glad Aileen likes it.”

Se-jun was delighted with Aileen’s thank-you and got up to go to the garlic field.

He planned to increase his Agility with the Agility Six-Clove Garlic in order to eat the Heart of Mordor, the Demon King of Despair.

Se-jun arrived at the garlic field like that. In the garlic field, 1,000 garlic plants were planted at evenly spaced intervals.

“Good.”

Pull, pull.

[You have harvested Agility Six-Clove Garlic (6 cloves).]

[Your job experience increases slightly.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 8 increases slightly.]

[You have acquired 420 experience points.]

…

..

.

Se-jun pulled the garlic stems and harvested the garlic planted in the ground.

And,

Pull.

When Se-jun pulled out the last garlic,

[You have obtained Mental Power Six-Clove Garlic (6 cloves).]

…

..

.

“Huh?”

Se-jun had harvested a new variety of garlic.

[You have achieved the achievement of breeding a new variety in the tower.]

…

..

.

[As a class trait, all of your stats increase by 10.]

“What is this?”

As Se-jun looked at the Mental Power Six-Clove Garlic, he felt an inexplicable feeling of rejection.

And,

Peel.

He peeled the Mental Power Six-Clove Garlic and picked up one clove to examine it.

[Mental Power Six-Clove Garlic]

This is a six-clove garlic variety that grows naturally inside the tower.

It has the ability to drive away impure things, but it is quickly contaminated by the surrounding energy, so it must be consumed as soon as possible.

Upon consumption, Mental Power increases by 1.

If you eat all six cloves from a single head of garlic, all of your stats increase by 10.

The stinging taste is very strong. (It does not disappear even when cooked.)

Expiration Date: 90 days

Grade: A

“So that was why.”

Se-jun said while looking at the explanation that the stinging taste did not disappear even after cooking.

It seemed to say that only those who endured the stinging pain were qualified to increase their mental power.

“Well, there’s no need to eat it now.”

Se-jun planted the six cloves of Mental Power Six-Clove Garlic in the ground, then peeled three heads of Agility Six-Clove Garlic and roasted them with butter.

“Hehehe. This is garlic butter.”

A smile naturally appeared on his face from the amazing scent.

“Ah, I should make garlic butter popcorn too.”

Se-jun took out another pot, retrieved the Corn of Exploding Stamina, and heated it.

A moment later,

[You have consumed Agility Six-Clove Garlic.]

[Your Agility increases by 1.]

…

..

.

[You have consumed all six cloves from a single head of garlic.]

[All of your stats increase by 1.]

Se-jun started eating the roasted garlic.

And when Se-jun finally reached 1000 Agility,

[All of your stats have exceeded 1000.]

[Your status rises.]

[The potential of all of your stats increases by 100.]

[Your resistance to other energies increases by 10%.]

Upon reaching 1000 in all stats, a new effect appeared.

“Meow?! Puhuhut. Chairman Park’s knees have gotten stronger, meow!”

As Se-jun’s status increased and his knees became stronger, Theo eagerly rubbed his face against Se-jun’s knees. *Puhuhut. It’s mine, meow!*

“Oh. There was something like this.”

Se-jun read the message with an interested expression and finished eating the remaining garlic.

There was no need to eat it anymore, but there was no reason to give up the option to increase all stats by 1 by eating all six cloves.

Se-jun was finally ready to consume the Heart of Mordor, the Demon King of Despair.

Yum.

He immediately put the yellow bead into his mouth.

Melting softly.

As soon as he put it in his mouth, the yellow bead just disappeared like smoke.

“Huh?!”

*Where did it go?* When Se-jun was flustered,

[You have consumed the Heart of Mordor, the Demon King of Despair.]

[Your Mana increases by 300.]

[You bloom the talent: Bringer of Despair.]

Fortunately, a message appeared showing it hadn’t disappeared.

“Hehehe. Then let’s check the talent.”

What kind of talent was it? Se-jun confirmed his talent with excitement. His expectations were high because the name of the talent seemed quite grand.

[Talent: Bringer of Despair]

This talent can only be possessed by those who have consumed the Heart of Mordor, the Demon King of Despair.

Inflicts despair on the enemy, reducing their abilities.

The higher your status is compared to the enemy, the greater the effect. (If the gap is massive, the enemy will destroy itself on its own.)

If the enemy’s status is higher, despair cannot be inflicted.

“It’s ambiguous.”

Se-jun said after confirming his talent. It seemed strong… but then again, it didn’t seem like it was.

At that moment,

Cuengi!

[Dad, Cuengi dug up kudzu-da-yo!]

After breakfast, Cuengi returned from his visit to the herb field.

“Hyung! I finished watering!”

Ajax had finished watering the fields too. Before they knew it, it was lunchtime.

“Wait a moment while eating this.”

Se-jun gave them the garlic butter popcorn and quickly boiled the soaked Five-Colored Beans along with peanuts over high heat.

The reason he added peanuts was to add nuttiness.

Slice, slice, slice.

Se-jun continued by rolling out the kalguksu dough that he had made earlier while making the pancakes, spreading it out, folding it into several layers, and

Slice, slice, slice.

cutting it into uniform widths to make noodles.

Tap.

“Now boil the noodles.”

Se-jun put the noodles into boiling water.

“Ajax, grind this finely and make it like water.”

Se-jun held out the pot of boiled Five-Colored Beans and peanuts.

“Okay! Hyung! Leave it to me! Wind Cutter!”

Ajax created dozens of wind cutters, and

Whirrr!

ground the Five-Colored Beans and peanuts.

Chop, chop.

Meanwhile, Se-jun cut cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, preparing toppings to put on the cold bean noodles.

A moment later,

“Se-jun-hyung, it’s done!”

“Yes. Good job.”

Se-jun replied, cooling the boiled noodles in ice water.

Squeeze.

After squeezing out the water, he placed them nicely in a bowl,

Tap, tap.

and topped them with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and boiled Egg Fruit cut in half.

And,

Pour, pour.

he poured the ground bean soup Ajax made into the bowl, completing the cold bean noodles.

“Guys, let’s eat.”

At Se-jun’s words, Cuengi and Ajax started eating the cold bean noodles according to their preferences.

Cuengi poured honey into the cold bean noodles, while

Sprinkle, sprinkle.

Ajax sprinkled salt on the cold bean noodles.

“They’re eating well.”

Se-jun watched Cuengi and Ajax eat, and

Slurp.

took a bite of the plain cold bean noodles with nothing added.

“Hehehe. It’s savory.”

And when Se-jun took out a container of kimchi from the subspace warehouse and was about to eat the kimchi and cold bean noodles,

-Se-jun! I brought the Dragon Blood here!

Kaiser quickly flew in carrying nine glass bottles.

He had quickly finished the container to hold the Dragon Blood in order to talk to Aileen.

However, Se-jun’s gaze towards Kaiser was not pleasant.

“What is this? So it was something you could do in a single day?!”

Because they had never done anything this quickly before.

Se-jun was about to act blackened again, but

Knead, knead.

“Chairman Park, your face is ruined, meow!”

this time he didn’t coordinate well with Theo.

Knead, knead.

Unable to bear Se-jun’s ruined face, Theo hurriedly massaged Se-jun’s face.

Thanks to that, Se-jun’s emotional immersion was broken, and he failed to act blackened.

At that moment,

[You have broken through the last trial of the 10th Tower.]

[As a reward, you have obtained the .]

A golden key appeared in Se-jun’s hand along with a message.