Chapter 368 – It’s Just the Right Prey

“Heave-ho.”

Se-jun opened his eyes in bed.

“…It’s taking a long time this time.”

He said, looking at his lap. It felt empty without Theo.

However, habits were scary, so Se-jun got up as usual and marked a stroke on the wall to indicate the date. The morning of his 384th day in the tower began.

As Se-jun moved,

Bbyak…

“Hyung…”

Kking…

the Black Rabbit, Ajax, and Fenrir, who woke up at the sign of presence, followed behind Se-jun with half-asleep eyes.

When Se-jun stood in front of the house where the warm sun was shining down, the three also stood side by side next to Se-jun, and

“Ugyagyagya!”

Bbyaaak!

“Agyagyagya!”

Kki-i-ing!

they all stretched languidly together.

As a side note, Ajax had eaten the rice dumplings yesterday, taken a hot bath with Se-jun in the bathhouse, and then knocked out.

While the four of them were stretching,

Kkue-e-eng!

Cuengi also appeared, stretching.

The five who gathered like that scattered again to do their respective work.

Se-jun went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, and the Black Rabbit, Cuengi, and Ajax harvested crops before breakfast.

Kkihikit. Kking?

‘Hehit. Is my secret warehouse doing well?’

Fenrir headed to the Creator God’s monument to check his secret warehouse.

However,

Kking?!

‘Who is it?!’

There were traces of someone having dug up the secret warehouse.

‘Did the bear cub visit again?’

Fenrir, thinking Cuengi must have visited again this time too, dug the ground diligently, anticipating the secret warehouse filled with more snacks.

And as Fenrir expected, the amount of snacks inside the secret warehouse had increased.

However, it was not Cuengi’s doing. The types of snacks were different. The secret warehouse was filled with carrots and cherry tomatoes.

Kking?

‘Who is it?’

When Fenrir looked around to find the culprit,

Bbyak!

the Black Rabbit raised a thumbs-up while looking at Fenrir.

Since he had good hearing, he knew Fenrir had a secret warehouse and had put his own favorite snacks into the secret warehouse.

Thanks to the kind brother who took care of the Maknae’s snacks, Fenrir was able to fill his belly with snacks before eating breakfast, and

Kking! Kking!

‘I want to eat too! Hand it over!’

“No. How can you eat this with that belly? Eat it later.”

Instead, Fenrir could not eat the warm, freshly baked hotcakes Se-jun made for breakfast.

Kking…

Looking at the cooling hotcakes, Fenrir fell asleep, resolving to eat only a little bit of snacks before meals in the future.

Once breakfast was finished, Se-jun took his companions to the pineapple field.

Se-jun could harvest regular pineapples alone, but today he also had to harvest the Screaming Pineapples.

Se-jun had also become stronger now, so he could sufficiently endure the screams of the Screaming Pineapples.

However, it was difficult to make ‘Once-Endured Screaming Pineapple’ with Se-jun’s Strength. Due to the lack of Strength, the screams leaked out.

Unless they were going to eat it all today, post-processing was required. That was why he was taking the strong companions with him.

“Then I’m cutting.”

Se-jun and Ajax, who needed to raise their farming skill, harvested the Screaming Pineapples, and

Bbyak!

Kkueng!

the Black Rabbit and Cuengi pressed tightly on the harvested pineapples so they could not scream.

Thus, the Once-Endured Screaming Pineapples harvested in teams of two piled up on one side of the field.

Once the harvest was finished,

“Shall we try eating one?”

Se-jun grabbed one pineapple and cut it in half.

Kki-i-i-i-ik!!!

The Screaming Pineapple shrieked, accompanied by a shockwave.

“Ugh. My ears hurt.”

He wondered if there was a way to eat this quietly. It was delicious, but it was too noisy.

Therefore, he proposed to the Black Rabbit, Cuengi, and Ajax that he would give a gold spoon as a reward if they found a way to eat it quietly.

If they gave the gold spoon they received to Se-jun, they could request him to make whatever food they wanted to eat.

“Then, try researching it.”

Se-jun spoke to the three and went to harvest regular pineapples.

While Se-jun was harvesting pineapples in that manner,

“Hyung! I found it!”

Ajax came to find Se-jun and cut a pineapple on which Silent magic had been cast.

The pineapple split quietly without any sound.

However,

Kung.

the shockwave was still the same.

“Rejected because the shockwave remains.”

“Euing…”

As Ajax, who received a rejection, returned in disappointment,

Bbyak!

[Uncle, I also found a way!]

the Black Rabbit ran over hurriedly with a confident expression.

And after digging the ground and burying the pineapple deep,

Bbyok!

he struck the ground with his hammer. It was an advanced technique that moved precisely with mana to apply impact only to the pineapple.

Gugung.

The pineapple that received the impact exploded, shaking the ground slightly.

When the shaking ceased, the Black Rabbit dug into the ground and brought out the pineapple split in half.

Although there was a bit of vibration and the method of eating was quite cumbersome, it was quiet in its own way.

“On hold for now.”

Therefore, he decided to make a decision after seeing Cuengi’s method.

At that moment,

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[Dad, Cuengi won-da-yo! The gold spoon belongs to Cuengi-da-yo!]

Cuengi handed the pineapple held in his front paw to Se-jun with a confident expression.

[Pineapple That Endured Three Times and Became Delicious]

“Oh? The name is different.”

The pineapple Cuengi was holding had a different name from the other pineapples. Just looking at the name, he could guess what Cuengi had done.

‘He simply suppressed it with strength until it quieted down.’

Still, perhaps it was effective, as the name had changed from ‘Screaming’ to ‘Became Delicious’.

“Shall we see?”

Se-jun checked the pineapple’s options.

[Pineapple That Endured Three Times and Became Delicious]

[A pineapple grown inside the tower that has absorbed sufficient nutrients and is delicious.]

[The mana that failed to explode three times lost its explosive property and was absorbed into the pineapple flesh, making the flesh even more delicious.]

[Upon consumption, Mana increases by 5.]

[Upon consumption, there is a low probability of awakening the talent: Enduring Three Times.]

[Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun]

[Expiration Date: 150 days]

[Grade: A]

“Wow.”

Only an exclamation of admiration came out. To think it could be like this… The scream was sublimated into taste, stats, and talent.

“Cuengi, passed.”

Se-jun handed the gold spoon to Cuengi.

At that,

Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. Cuengi wants to eat a filling rice noodle soup-da-yo!]

Cuengi immediately handed the gold spoon to Se-jun, requesting the food he wanted to eat.

“You… you want to eat a filling rice noodle soup?”

Se-jun stammered at Cuengi’s request.

‘How much do I have to make for Cuengi to eat his fill?’

Although the amount Cuengi ate lately had decreased, it was absolutely not because he was full. He restrained himself because Se-jun would suffer if he ate a lot.

If he declared he would eat his fill, it was unimaginable how much he could eat. Moreover, hadn’t he seen Cuengi drinking and draining the Milk Lake not long ago?

But it was also understandable. How much had he wanted to eat his fill, that he used the gold spoon as soon as he received it?

“Cuengi, trust Dad! Cuengi, don’t do anything today. Just eat!”

Our son said he wanted to eat, so Dad could do at least that much!

Fortunately, it was a soup dish.

Se-jun, with a solemn expression, took out the Relic: Wealth-Swallowing Rice Dough and filled the black pot, which had been enlarged enormously, with rice flour.

Filling the black pot to the brim consumed as much as 10 million Tower Coins.

“Ajax, release seal!”

Se-jun released Ajax’s seal. A massive dough required massive strength.

“Ajax, knead!”

“Yes! Hyung!”

Se-jun had Ajax knead the rice noodle dough and entered into manufacturing a large capacity of broth.

***

“Cheer up! Soon we will be on the 40th floor!”

“Yes!”

The other subordinates replied vigorously to the words of Koto, the leader of the Crying Skull Band.

The Crying Skull Band was climbing the tower diligently for the great cause of overthrowing the bone-rank system.

However, for the six from the lower floors to ascend to the 76th floor of the tower was a very difficult and dangerous journey.

Because the path was rugged and dangerous monsters were lined up.

However, there was something that made them suffer even more than the monsters.

That was…

“Captain, we don’t have money to use the merchant passage!”

Money. To use the fast and safe merchant passage, money was required.

Furthermore, since they were not registered with the Merchant Association, the usage fee was even more expensive.

Originally, since the amount of money the Farming King had packed to deliver to Se-jun was substantial, the Crying Skull Band who took that money should have had a lot of money.

However, the Crying Skull Band met other bandits along the way and had all their money taken.

‘If it was going to be taken like this, why did you take my money?’

When his money was transferred to other bandits, the Farming King really wanted to cry.

Thus, the Crying Skull Band became penniless. Perhaps due to the name, sad things seemed to happen frequently.

“It can’t be helped. Prepare for business!”

Fortunately, since they were in the same line of work, the bandits did not take their weapons, so they were able to conduct business.

Hiding their bodies and starting their main line of work, banditry, the Crying Skull Band waited for someone to pass by.

At that moment, a Black Orc passed in front of them.

“Leader, shall we strike?”

“Wait…”

As mentioned earlier, there were many dangerous monsters here for lower floor monsters. They waited for a long time until an easy opponent appeared.

***

Bbyak!

[Uncle, here!]

The Black Rabbit went into the water and caught seafood to be used for the broth.

The Black Rabbit easily caught eels, octopuses, squids, crabs, etc., as if scooping them out of a fish farm.

Those were also ones that had lived for more than 1,000 years in the Sea of Dimensions and possessed inner cores.

It was thanks to Flamie driving the marine monsters toward the pond when Se-jun said he wanted seafood.

Thus, with the help of Flamie and the Black Rabbit, Se-jun obtained a large amount of seafood in good condition.

Slice. Slice.

He trimmed large crabs with the Greatsword of Amplification to make crab shell pots, added water to boil, and added other seafood and vegetables to make broth.

Fortunately, since there were many crabs, he could make as many as 10 crab shell pots.

Once the broth preparation was finished like that,

“Ajax!”

he called Ajax, who was making dough at a distance for Se-jun.

“Good. Well done. Ajax, seal!”

Confirming that the rice noodle dough was properly completed, Se-jun sealed Ajax.

And,

“Press!”

“Yes! Hyung!”

Putting the rice noodle dough into the black noodle press, he pressed to extract the noodles. The noodles fell directly into the boiling broth and cooked rapidly.

Almost 100 servings of rice noodles went into the crab shell pot.

But

Slurp.

100 servings of rice noodles was just one mouthful for Cuengi.

“Ajax, press!”

Se-jun hurriedly pressed and put rice noodles into the remaining 9 crab shell pots, and Cuengi followed behind, eating the rice noodles.

It was a new concept of a conveyor-belt noodle restaurant where the noodles stayed still and Cuengi moved.

Se-jun and the Black Rabbit poured more water or added more seafood and vegetables to adjust the seasoning of the broth.

Thanks to that, Cuengi was able to eat delicious rice noodles until the end.

When Cuengi completed exactly 39 rounds like that,

Kkuhehehe… Kkueng.

[Hehehe… Cuengi is really full-da-yo.]

Cuengi patted his belly and made a satisfied expression.

And,

“Good work…”

Bbyak…

“Yes… you too, Hyung…”

Se-jun, the Black Rabbit, and Ajax, who made 39,000 servings of noodles and burned themselves out, collapsed on the floor.

‘I can’t do this twice.’

When Se-jun thought that he should seal the gold spoon for the time being,

[The Tower Administrator states that she has found the power of destruction on the 44th floor of the tower.]

Aileen spoke to him.

“44th floor?”

The 44th floor of the tower was the place where Se-jun had registered a waypoint.

“Shall I go see the penguins after a long time?”

Se-jun said in an excited voice.

Since the 44th floor of the tower was around the middle of the tower, if Theo was nearby, he might come find him. Or he could go find him himself.

“Toryong-i!”

Se-jun rode Toryong-i and moved to the waypoint with his companions.

***

40th Floor of the Black Tower.

‘It’s just the right prey.’

Koto, who had been waiting for an easy target for several hours, smiled broadly as he looked at the yellow cat, pink pig, and fist-sized white bird approaching from afar.

“Alright! Crying Skull Band, move out!”

To show the bravery of the leader, Koto shouted and ran out in the lead.

“Puhuhut.”

An ominous laughter was heard from the opposite side, but he tried to ignore it. It was clear that they had not seen them yet.