Chapter 68 – Strengthening Talent

The cats arrived in front of the Bull Demon King, who was guarding the waypoint.

“Greetings! I am Oren, a wandering merchant who came to sell rare items from outside the tower to the Bull Demon King!”

Shiver shiver.

Oren delivered his words to the end, despite his legs trembling furiously.

You are amazing, Lord Oren!

The other cats sent respectful gazes to Oren as they took out items from Earth from their bundles. Roll cleaners, tumblers, tissue boxes, and so on were displayed.

These were items completely useless to the Bull Demon King. He could have just chased them away, but because of Se-jun’s request, the Bull Demon King conversed a bit more.

“What is that?”

“Ah! This is a roll cleaner, which has adhesive magic on it so you can remove dust or fur.”

“The price?”

“Ah, the price? It is 50 Tower Coins.”

Oren called nearly ten times the price he paid.

The Bull Demon King, who asked about a few more items like that, said:

“I want to verify if the items you are selling are truly rare items through an expert. Woo Sam-cheon, take them to the expert!”

Moo!

At the Bull Demon King’s command, Woo Sam-cheon guided the cats and moved.

***

When Se-jun returned from lighting a fire in the western forest,

Buzz. Buzz.

A Poison Honeybee sat on Se-jun’s hand. In the Poison Honeybee’s arms was a transparent, rectangular yellow jelly. The size was about that of a caramel eaten outside.

“Is this the Honey Jelly?”

Buzz. Buzz.

[Yes. It is Honey Jelly made from cherry tomato flowers.]

Plop.

The Poison Honeybee answered Se-jun’s question and placed the Honey Jelly on Se-jun’s palm.

[You have obtained 1 Poison Honeybee’s Cherry Tomato Honey Jelly.]

[The proficiency of Beekeeping Lv. 4 increases slightly.]

The texture was squishy.

“Shall I take a look?”

Se-jun examined the Honey Jelly.

[Poison Honeybee’s Cherry Tomato Honey Jelly]

Processed with the Poison Honeybees’ own secret recipe using pollen and honey from Magical Cherry Tomatoes that grew inside the tower, absorbing plenty of nutrients, its aroma and taste were top-notch.

The sweetness was maximized by concentrating the honey.

Upon consumption, slightly strengthens magic power-related talents.

Grower: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Expiration Date: 1 year

Grade: C

Crazy!

Although opening a talent was difficult, strengthening a talent was in another realm.

Many hunters worked hard to strengthen their talents. This was because if they strengthened their talents, the talents would grow into higher-grade talents.

However, the hunters who grew their talents were truly a tiny minority. This was because strengthening a talent required bone-carving effort.

But…

To think you could strengthen magic power-related talents just by eating this?!

While Se-jun was surprised by the options of the Honey Jelly, there was an existence next to him who was even more astonished.

Cueng! Cueng!!!

Intoxicated by the sweet scent of the Honey Jelly, which he had never smelled before in his life, Cuengi clung to Se-jun. Dad! Give it to me!!!

“Cuengi, sit!”

Se-jun spoke firmly, calming the excited Cuengi.

Cueng.

At Se-jun’s words, Cuengi quickly sat in front of Se-jun and held out his two front paws. Give me that.

However,

Ppyak!

The black rabbit also seemed to want to eat the Honey Jelly, appealing to Se-jun not to forget him.

‘I want to eat it too…’

While Se-jun was pondering what to do with the Honey Jelly,

Buzz. Buzz.

Fortunately, dozens of Poison Honeybees began to fly in, carrying Honey Jellies one by one. The Honey Jelly on Se-jun’s palm seemed to be the first Honey Jelly made.

[You have obtained 1 Poison Honeybee’s Cherry Tomato Honey Jelly.]

[The proficiency of Beekeeping Lv. 4 increases slightly.]

…

..

.

Dozens of Honey Jellies piled up in Se-jun’s hand.

Cueng!

Cuengi pestered him to give him the Honey Jelly again.

“Giving one to each of the hyungs first.”

Se-jun, who had a handful of Honey Jellies, distributed the Honey Jellies one by one in the order of Theo, the black rabbit, and Cuengi.

However,

“That is not fish, meow! I won’t eat it, meow!”

The fish lover Theo, as expected, rejected the Honey Jelly. Thanks to that, Cuengi was able to eat one more Honey Jelly, and Cuengi’s magic power-related talent grew.

And Se-jun’s combat power fell below one-hundredth of Cuengi’s.

“Guys, come and try one each.”

Se-jun called the other rabbits to let them taste the Honey Jelly one by one.

“Yum.”

Se-jun also put one Honey Jelly in his mouth and chewed. The texture felt at first was definitely jelly.

Chew chew.

As he chewed, the Honey Jelly dissolved in his saliva, and the rich aroma and taste of heavy honey filled his mouth.

“Oh!”

Se-jun, who felt the lingering taste of the Honey Jelly that had disappeared like cotton candy, let out an exclamation and snapped out of it. Since Se-jun did not possess a magic power-related talent, there was no talent strengthening.

“Aileen.”

Se-jun called Aileen, looking at the 10 Honey Jellies left in his hand. If it was Aileen who liked Magical Cherry Tomatoes, she would probably like this too.

“Aileen?”

However, there was no answer.

“Is she sleeping?”

Se-jun placed the remaining Honey Jellies in Theo’s bundle for now, did a bit of work, and ate lunch.

And just as he was about to take a rest,

[The Tower Administrator Aileen Pritani was dying due to the rampage of her Dragon Heart.]

“What?!”

[A quest from the Black Tower occurred.]

[Black Tower Quest: Calm the rampage of Aileen Pritani’s Dragon Heart.]

Reward: Aileen Pritani regains consciousness

Upon failure: Aileen Pritani dies due to the rampage of her Dragon Heart

***

“Khehehe. Commendable human! Burn it all!”

Aileen watched Se-jun through the crystal ball as usual. When Se-jun, who obtained the ability to control fire with the apple tree, burned the western forest and leveled up, Aileen was excited.

“Khehehe. Commendable human, grow stronger quickly!”

While cheering for Se-jun so hard, Aileen felt thirsty, so she drank Seph’s Cherry Tomato Soup that Se-jun had given her.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

As her magic power increased, her Dragon Heart began to beat strongly.

“Khehe. Good.”

While Aileen was happy, feeling her Dragon Heart beat strongly,

“Argh!”

Aileen fell, clutching her chest.

Thump!!! Thump!!!

Suddenly, the mana inside the Dragon Heart began to beat to the point where she could not control it. It was a mana rampage.

“Park… Se-jun… help…”

Aileen lost consciousness while calling Se-jun.

And,

[The life of the Tower Administrator was in danger.]

[The emergency system of the Black Tower activated.]

[The emergency system of the Black Tower analyzed the physical condition of the Tower Administrator.]

[……]

[The emergency system of the Black Tower requested help from the existence whom the Tower Administrator called last.]

***

[Choose an item to help the Tower Administrator Aileen Pritani.]

“But what is the reason Aileen’s Dragon Heart rampaged?”

Not knowing how to help, Se-jun asked urgently.

[The reason why the Tower Administrator Aileen Pritani’s Dragon Heart rampaged was because she absorbed uncontrollable mana with Aileen Pritani’s talent: Frozen Dragon Heart.]

Frozen Dragon Heart?

Absorbed mana that her talent couldn’t handle?

“Then I just have to strengthen her talent, right?”

Coincidentally, Se-jun had just such an item.

[Yes. That was the best way.]

Se-jun, who was about to give the Honey Jelly to Aileen anyway, brightened. It was good that he left them. It was a true relief.

“Theo, take out the Honey Jelly.”

“Understood, meow!”

In the meantime, the Poison Honeybees had brought more Honey Jellies, so the number of Honey Jellies had increased to 12.

“Feed this to Aileen.”

[Understood.]

The Honey Jellies in Se-jun’s hand disappeared.

[Supplied 12 Poison Honeybee’s Cherry Tomato Honey Jellies to the Tower Administrator Aileen Pritani.]

“How is it?”

[Please wait a moment. Waiting for the reaction.]

[……]

[The Poison Honeybee’s Cherry Tomato Honey Jellies successfully strengthened the Tower Administrator Aileen Pritani’s talent: Frozen Dragon Heart.]

[Talent: Frozen Dragon Heart was slightly strengthened, and the rampage of the Dragon Heart stopped.]

“Then Aileen is okay now, right?”

[Yes. For the time being, the Tower Administrator Aileen Pritani’s Dragon Heart will not rampage.]

“For the time being?”

[Yes. Although she is in a stable state now, if the Tower Administrator Aileen Pritani’s talent does not grow, there is a risk of rampage again.]

A few seconds later, a message appeared indicating that the quest was completed.

“Phew.”

Se-jun was relieved after seeing the message.

***

Grumble.

“Lord Woo Sam-cheon, how much further do we have to go?”

Oren asked Woo Sam-cheon at the sound of his stomach rumbling. They had been walking for several hours without having eaten anything for days.

However, Woo Sam-cheon didn’t answer and kept walking. Woo Sam-cheon’s mission was to keep the cats walking until they were exhausted. When they had walked like that for about 3 hours, a signal came from a colleague in the distance.

Moo!

“Pardon? You’re saying we eat before going?!”

“Food?!”

At the mention of food, the cats were excited.

However,

“H-here…?”

The place Woo Sam-cheon took the cats to was a land full of mud. The cats hesitated in front of the muddy field. They didn’t want to get mud on their paws.

At that moment,

Sniff sniff.

“Don’t you smell grilled fish from somewhere?!”

“You too?!”

The cats were excited by the smell of grilled fish.

Moo.

Woo Sam-cheon pushed the cats into the muddy field and spoke.

“Pardon? You’re saying we can eat food at the restaurant?”

At the cats’ question, Woo Sam-cheon silently pointed to a spot. At the end of the muddy field on the opposite side, there was a restaurant. And the smell of grilled fish was coming from the restaurant.

“It’s grilled fish!”

The cats hurriedly ran to the restaurant. Inside the restaurant, the grey rabbits were grilling fish.

“Give me 5 grilled fish!”

“I’ll have 10!”

When the cats hurriedly ordered grilled fish,

Squeak!

The sturdiest grey rabbit held out his front paw.

“Pardon?! Advance payment?!”

At the grey rabbit’s words, the cats were flustered. The price of one grilled fish was 0.05 Tower Coins. However, they were beggars without a single penny.

At that moment,

Thump.

The grey rabbit held out a contract.

“Ah! You’re telling us to eat on credit?! Thank you!”

When the cats stamped their paw prints on the contract agreeing to pay back for the grilled fish later,

Squeak!

Squeak!

Squeak!

The grey rabbits diligently grilled piranhas and gave them to the cats.

Although there was a condition that if they didn’t pay back the credit within 3 days, they had to make 1,000 mud bricks per grilled fish, since they could sufficiently pay it by selling the items they possessed, they ate the grilled fish to their fill without burden.

And they thought that if worse came to worst, they could just make 1,000 mud bricks. It was a secret that the size of the mud bricks was based on the Black Minotaurs’ standard.

A moment later,

“Ah, I’m full.”

“I’m full.”

The cats lay down with happy expressions at the feast after a long time. And the cats, who were drowsy from tiredness, fell asleep.

***

“Why is the tower still not opening?!”

Kaiser Pritani, who wanted to see his lovely granddaughter, expressed irritation while looking at the portal.

“Lord Patriarch, please compose yourself. Doesn’t that mean Aileen’s life is not in danger?”

“Hmm. That is true.”

Kaiser had set up a system that requested help from the existence Aileen called last when Aileen’s life became endangered.

‘And the one Aileen called was always me. Hehehe.’

Before losing consciousness, Aileen always called Kaiser, and like that, when the portal activated, Kaiser would go over first, call other dragons to treat Aileen, and return.

‘Aileen, quickly call your grandfather.’

Kaiser, unaware that Aileen had called Se-jun as she collapsed, stared at the inactive portal, wishing Aileen would call him.

At that moment,

[Transmitting the activity record of the Black Tower’s emergency system.]

“What?!”

The activation of the Black Tower’s emergency system meant Aileen had had a seizure.

Kaiser hurriedly examined the activity record of the emergency system.

“What a relief.”

Although there was a rampage, fortunately, the state of Aileen’s Dragon Heart was much better than before.

However,

“Grrr! Who is Park Se-jun? Who is it!!!”

Angered that Aileen had called someone else instead of him, Kaiser let out a roar of rage.

***

“Brrr.”

Se-jun shivered at the sudden chilly feeling.

[Master! Are you cold? Yah!]

Flamie quickly created flames around Se-jun to make it warm, and the chilly feeling quickly retreated.