Chapter 54 – Evolve

The 75th floor of the tower.

The president’s office of the Traveling Merchant Association.

Mason of the Fox Tribe, President of the Traveling Merchant Association.

Hannibal of the Tiger Tribe, President of the Free Mercenary Association.

Iona of the Hamster Tribe, President of the Mage Association.

The heads of the three major forces that influenced all floors of the tower gathered.

“Already five days have passed since the Red Locusts appeared on the 67th floor of the tower. According to our information, two-thirds of the 67th floor of the tower has been devastated by the Red Locusts. And currently, the Lizardmen are desperately defending, centering around the waypoint.”

Mason spoke the information he had found out.

“Why is the Great Black Dragon not stepping forward?”

Iona asked in a worried voice.

“To be honest, I do not know well. However, we cannot just wait like this. At this rate, the great famine of 100 years ago might occur again.”

The great famine of 100 years ago. The start of that event began as the Red Locusts invaded the 55th floor of the tower, the best granary of the tower.

Even before that, there had been invasions of Red Locusts, but because the Great Black Dragon had always stepped forward, the existences of the tower did not consider it a big deal.

However…

At that time, for some reason, the Great Black Dragon appeared only several hours after the invasion of the Red Locusts occurred.

As a result, Red Ribbon, the kingdom of the rabbits that ruled the 55th floor of the tower, was destroyed. Unluckily, it was because the Red Locusts appeared in the sky above the kingdom. Due to that, a massive food shortage occurred throughout the tower.

“That’s right. It is only a matter of time before the waypoint is captured. If the Red Locusts capture the waypoint of the 67th floor of the tower like this, they will soon begin to climb to the upper floors.”

Hannibal strongly agreed with Mason’s words.

If the Red Locusts captured even the waypoint of the 68th floor of the tower, next would be the 69th floor of the tower.

And on the 69th floor of the tower, there was the Draken Great Farm owned by the kingdom of the Lizardmen. That place was one of the five major granaries of the tower. This was not a problem of the Lizardmen alone.

If food decreased, the distribution volume of food would decrease by that much, the price would rise, and the existences who could not buy food due to having no money would starve to death or turn into bandits.

The general order of the tower would collapse. Since they had already experienced it once, they knew well how serious the damage was.

“The Traveling Merchant Association will support supplies equivalent to 1 million Tower Coins in military funding.”

“The Free Mercenary Alliance will dispatch 10,000 free mercenaries.”

“The Association of the 7 Magic Towers will dispatch 200 War Mages.”

Thus, the reinforcing army to block the Red Locusts departed for the 67th floor of the tower.

***

The 38th floor of the tower.

“When on earth is the cat traveling merchant coming?!”

“Let’s wait a little longer, and if he doesn’t come today either, let’s head back.”

Five hunters were waiting for Theo at the path he would pass before coming to the trade location.

They were kidnappers who, as the Magical Cherry Tomatoes were sold at enormous prices outside these days, tried to kidnap Theo and find out the location of the farm where the Magical Cherry Tomatoes were.

At that moment,

“Nyang, nyang, nyang.”

The sound of Theo’s humming was heard.

“He’s coming.”

The hunters hurriedly hid their bodies behind the wall.

And,

‘Now!’

As the hunters were about to throw their bodies toward Theo,

“Grrr. To dare to touch Representative Theo!”

“Grrr. Pitiful bastards.”

two silver wolves, which had appeared behind them before they knew it, growled while showing a slight murderous intent,

‘What?!’

the hunters fainted, surprised by the murderous intent.

“Meow, meow, meow. Money is rolling in, meow!”

Theo hummed a song while stamping the thumbs of the fainted hunters onto the contract.

‘Puhuhut. Since you targeted me, I will take a lot of money from you!’

In Theo’s mind, a formula of ‘an enemy attacking me = an existence that gives me money’ had been created.

‘Puhuhut. Park Se-jun said my life value is 10,000 Tower Coins, meow!’

“You guys stay here and extract 10,000 Tower Coins when these guys wake up, meow!”

Theo intended to extract all of his life value, which Se-jun had appraised, from the hunters.

“Yes.”

Theo left the hunters to the wolves and moved the cherry tomatoes from the wolves’ bags into his bundle.

As they ate food while moving, space was created in the bundle.

“Then, I will be back, meow.”

Theo moved to the trade location.

***

The 220th day of being stranded.

Moo!

Finally, the completed mud bricks and mud began to be delivered near Se-jun’s cave.

Squeak!

Moo!

When the Architect Gray Rabbit pointed out the location to place the bricks, the Black Minotaur laid down the bricks at that location.

And,

Rub, rub.

Se-jun and the Gray Rabbits applied mud around the bricks to fill the gaps between the bricks. The first floor of the outer wall of the house, which was about 30 pyeong in size, was quickly completed.

And he placed bricks here and there and completely covered them with bricks on top. The first floor of bricks below was a space for making a fire. Se-jun made an ondol in the house.

One might ask what kind of ondol in a place that was not very cold, but if there was an ondol, he could remove the moisture inside the house, and on days when his body felt heavy occasionally, lying on it and warming oneself on the hot floor was incredibly refreshing.

When they stacked several layers of bricks like that, the house was completed up to Se-jun’s waist height.

However, there was one existence looking at that with displeased eyes.

Kkueng…

It was Cuengi. The door of the house was too narrow for Cuengi to enter.

Dad doesn’t even think of me… I also want to become small and enter the house…

While Cuengi was disappointed like that,

Slowly.

Cuengi’s wish was fulfilled, and his body began to shrink.

Kkueng?!

Cuengi stared at his shrinking body.

And,

Kkueng!

An excited Cuengi ran to Se-jun and threw his body. Dad, I became small!

However,

Thud!

“Keuk!”

Se-jun received an impact as if hit by a large truck, flew off, and landed in the green onion field. It was Cuengi, whose size had shrunk but whose weight remained the same.

If the green onions had not cushioned the impact, he would have flown much farther.

Lick, lick.

Se-jun, who had briefly visited the other world, opened his eyes feeling wetness.

Kkueng!

Cuengi rejoiced upon seeing Se-jun open his eyes.

“Um… you… what happened?”

Se-jun asked, looking at the shrunken Cuengi. He had shrunk to about the size when he first saw him.

Kkueng, kkueng!

[I don’t know. My body just became small!]

At that moment,

“Huh?”

Se-jun confirmed that the name above Cuengi’s head had changed.

[Crimson Giant Honey Bear]

“Honey Bear?”

Cuengi had evolved into a Honey Bear.

“Then can you not grow big again?”

Se-jun asked anxiously. He felt that if that were the case, he might be scolded by the mother Crimson Giant Bear, asking what he had done to her cub. Maybe even die?

Kkueng!

Cuengi shook his head and returned to his original size. No, he grew to 5m, becoming more massive than before.

In the meantime, because he wanted to be together with Se-jun, Cuengi had been unconsciously making his body small with the desire to shrink.

“Oh!”

Se-jun looked marvelingly at Cuengi, who grew and shrank his body at will.

“Huh?!”

Then, Se-jun realized that this situation was an emergency. The storage in the cave!

Until now, it had been safe because Cuengi could not go down to the cave, but if Cuengi began to go back and forth in the cave again, the crops in the storage were in danger.

“Black Rabbit!”

When Se-jun called the black rabbit, looking down at the cave,

Pyah!

The black rabbit, who was hunting hard in the pond, came up to the surface.

“From now on, go around together with Cuengi. Got it?”

Pyah!

Kkueng!

At Se-jun’s words, the two answered vigorously and ran off excitedly. Where are you guys going?

Se-jun meant for him to watch over Cuengi, but the two took it as words to play together on friendly terms.

Having attached a watchman(?) to Cuengi like that, Se-jun went down to the cave to prepare lunch.

Spicy Stir-Fried Squid was today’s menu. When Se-jun went down to the cave, 30 squids, which the black rabbit had already caught and finished preparing, were placed in the pond. As expected, it was the reliable black rabbit.

Slice, slice.

Se-jun cut the squids into bite-sized pieces.

And when he heated the pot and put the last remaining chunk of eel fat,

Sizzle.

the fat melted and turned into oil along with a savory smell.

Chop, chop, chop.

Se-jun sliced green onions, put them into the oil, and stir-fried them, starting to make green onion oil.

And as the green onion scent permeated the oil, he put in the prepared squids and stir-fried them together.

Thus, stir-frying for about ten minutes. As the squids cooked and their color turned white, he added red pepper powder and other seasonings, added carrots, and stir-fried them together.

After a moment,

[You have completed Spicy Stir-Fried Squid.]

[The proficiency of Cooking Lv. 2 increases slightly.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, the proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 2 increases by an additional 5%.]

[The recipe for Spicy Stir-Fried Squid is registered in Cooking Lv. 2.]

To the White Rabbit and the Gray Rabbits who could not eat spicy food, he gave parboiled squid and salt, and Se-jun, the black rabbit, and Cuengi ate the Spicy Stir-Fried Squid together.

“Aileen, do you want to eat?”

For some reason lately, Aileen did not answer well.

“Is something wrong?”

When Se-jun was worrying about Aileen,

Pyah…

Kkueng…

Having finished their meal, the black rabbit and Cuengi came to take a nap. Cuengi, who had become able to climb onto Se-jun’s lap, occupied Se-jun’s lap together with the black rabbit.

Pyarolong.

Kkurolong.

They fell asleep in no time.

And when the rest time ended,

“Keuk.”

it was said that Se-jun could not move for a long time because his leg pressed by Cuengi was numb.

***

“Humans, I have come, meow!”

Theo, who was scheduled to acquire 10,000 Tower Coins, appeared at the trade location with a bright voice.

However,

‘Why are there so few, meow?’

The number of hunters waiting was fewer than expected. About 30.

Just as Theo’s good mood was about to turn bad in no time,

“Theo, please wait a moment.”

“Yeah. Our team members are coming.”

“It will only take about 10 minutes.”

“You dare to make the deadly yellow cat, Theo Park, wait, meow?! I will wait for exactly one hour, meow!”

“Huh? Uh. Sure.”

For someone who was angry, Theo was a generous cat who waited for as long as an hour.

“Yeah, it’s me! Come quickly!”

“Come quickly! Theo has come!”

The hunters hurriedly contacted their colleagues who had gone hunting nearby using their HunterPhones.

As many hunters continued to wait here constantly, the representatives of each team discussed and ended up making a camp here.

It was a waste of time to just keep waiting. Therefore, one or two members of each team rested here and waited for Theo, while the remaining hunters were hunting.

After a short while, the hunters who had gone hunting returned. Then, nearly 300 hunters gathered for the trade.

In this auction, the Royal Knight Guild and the Wizard Guild, which were closely chasing behind the Phoenix Guild, also participated.

“There are many hunters.”

Leon said, looking at the gathered hunters. Thanks to Theo waiting for an hour, Leon, who was doing the antidote quest on the 36th floor, was also able to participate.

Since his wife’s treatment of him had definitely changed after he brought the Magical Cherry Tomatoes home, he intended to secure them by all means.

‘Puhuhut. There are many customers, meow.’

Theo laughed as he looked at the 300 hunters.

And,

“Today, I will sell a total of 6,000 C-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes in units of 500 through auction, meow!”

“What! C-grade?!”

At Theo’s words, the hunters grew excited. It had been a month since the D-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes were released. Just now, as research results on the effects of the D-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes began to emerge, people were surprised by their amazing efficacy. But a C-grade?

“350 Tower Coins for 500!”

They haven’t even checked the options yet?

Leon called a price without even looking at the options. He intended to quickly win the bid and go back to do the quest. Like that, the auction for the Magical Cherry Tomatoes started at a price of 0.7 Tower Coins per piece.

And,

“500 pieces won at 600 Tower Coins, meow!”

The first auction ended with Leon buying the Magical Cherry Tomatoes at a price of 1.2 Tower Coins per piece.

“Here it is, meow!”

Leon received the C-grade Magical Cherry Tomato handed over by Theo and checked the options.

“Huh?!”

Leon opened his eyes wide upon seeing the option that increased magic power by 0.5. Not 0.3, but 0.5?! If he ate ten, his magic power would increase by 5.

In Leon’s mind, the A-grade item, the Sharp Fang Sword of the Poison Spider, which he had put in the warehouse due to lacking 5 magic power for the usage restriction, came to mind. If he could only equip the Sharp Fang Sword of the Poison Spider, his hunting speed would become three times faster than now.

‘I will buy all the rest too!’

“650 Tower Coins for 500!”

Leon changed his mind about only winning the bid once and participated in the auction again.

And seeing Leon, whose attitude changed after checking the C-grade Magical Cherry Tomato options, the other hunters, who gained confidence, also actively participated in the auction, and Theo earned 8,900 Tower Coins through the auction.

As the auction ended like that and the hunters were about to go hunting again,

“Today, I have one more item to sell, meow! It is the Green Onion of Detoxification, meow…”

Theo took out the Green Onion of Detoxification from his bundle in a diffident voice.