Chapter 86 – Planting the Ent’s Seed

A few hours ago.

Kaiser raised his voice while explaining the administrator’s duties to Aileen, who could do more as the tower administrator as her Dragon Heart grew, and was blocked from conversation by Aileen again.

And,

—Aileen~!

He had been working hard to converse with Aileen, but she was silent. There was only one way left.

‘I’ll have to get a favor out of Park Se-jun.’

Kaiser sought Se-jun out to get a favor from him. If he granted Se-jun’s favor, Se-jun would get Aileen to talk to him again without Kaiser even having to ask.

‘Oh. There he is.’

Looking down at the ground from the fountain, Kaiser was able to find Se-jun quickly.

At that moment,

‘Wait, this energy is?!’

Another life form was felt inside the body of the goblin next to Se-jun. He did not know where it had contracted it, but it was a parasitic organism. On top of that, inside the parasitic organism, the energy of the tribe Kaiser hated the most was felt.

‘How dare they, where do they think this is!’

Therefore, forgetting that he had to get a favor from Se-jun, he used the magic charged in the black dragon statue to obliterate the creature in an instant.

If he killed the host clumsily and the parasitic organism inside moved to find another host nearby, even Se-jun could be in danger.

Thanks to that, all the magic of the black dragon statue was exhausted, and a situation arose where he had to recharge magic again to get Se-jun’s favor.

The pride of the Great Black Dragon and the patriarch of the Pritani family did not allow that.

“Dammit!!!”

“Father, what is the matter?”

As Kaiser got angry, Anton, who was next to him, asked.

“I just detected the energy of those whitey rascals on the 99th floor of the tower.”

“Yes? Why the energy of the white dragons?”

“It must be to find out the location of the Black Tower.”

“Are they planning to plunder?”

“They know that the administrator of the Black Tower is Aileen, so they are looking down on her! How dare they look down on our granddaughter!!!”

Kaiser huffed and got angry. However, there was nothing he could do in the current situation.

He only hoped Aileen would grow quickly and do her part as the tower administrator.

—Aileen~!

Kaiser called Aileen again.

***

“Ugh!”

“Meow?! What is this rotten smell, meow?!”

“Kyu—the stench is too severe.”

Pyak!

Cueng!

Pyupyu!

Se-jun and the animals covered their noses at the stench flowing from inside the sub-space prison.

Pyupyu!

Pyupyu hurriedly used wind-attribute magic to vent the smell from inside the sub-space prison. Thanks to that, the terrible stench thinned out a lot.

“Shall we go in now?”

“Are you really going in, meow?”

Pyak?

Cueng?

Se-jun could tolerate it, but perhaps the smell was still intense for the animals, as they suffered just by going near it.

Step.

Ultimately, only Se-jun and Theo entered the sub-space prison. Instead of falling off Se-jun’s lap, Theo chose to bury his nose in Se-jun’s lap and hold his breath as much as possible.

‘I will protect Chairman Park’s lap, meow!’

Theo was not one to lose to a bad smell.

The inside of the prison was a two-meter cube room with absolutely no light. Before Se-jun entered, Pyupyu floated a sphere of light inside the prison with magic.

“The smell was because of this.”

As soon as Se-jun entered, he frowned looking at the filth that had fallen to the floor and hardened as it was. It was the source of the stench.

‘It’s dirty.’

He wanted to bring water from outside and clean it up right away, but he had to check what was inside the prison first.

Since the prison was small, he could quickly tell what was inside. Something was hanging from the ceiling in the corner of the prison, wrapping its body with wings. And the name visible above.

[Golden Bat]

A fist-sized bat was hanging from the ceiling in the corner of the prison with a thin iron chain tied to its leg.

“Golden Bat?”

Se-jun was puzzled, looking at the name. To call it a golden bat, no gold color was visible at all. It just looked scruffy.

As Se-jun carefully approached, the Golden Bat opened its eyes, unfolding its wings with difficulty.

(…?!)

Making eye contact with Se-jun, the Golden Bat was flustered that someone other than its master, Scaram, was looking at it.

And,

(Are you my new master?)

A voice entered Se-jun’s head. The words were heard directly in his head like telepathy.

“Master? Are you speaking?”

Se-jun asked, looking at the Golden Bat.

—Yes.

The Golden Bat answered, trembling. Since it did not know what kind of being the new master was, it was very afraid.

“Golden Bat, this won’t do. I’ll clean up here first.”

(…Yes?)

The new master did not give it orders, but instead brought water from outside and began cleaning the inside of the prison with the black rabbit and the bear cub. Perhaps because the smell was severe, the animals came in covering their noses with leaves.

‘Does it smell that much?’

Sniff, sniff.

The Golden Bat sniffed the smell of its own body. However, the Golden Bat, who had been inside the prison all along, already had its nose paralyzed and did not know how much it stank.

Then,

“You wash too.”

Se-jun said, bringing warm water in a wooden bowl.

(Yes.)

At the master’s instruction, the Golden Bat immediately began to wipe its body with water, and looking at the water turning blacker and blacker, it was able to realize how dirty it was.

However, trying to wash its body with its tiny body took a long time.

“This won’t do. Just go in.”

Se-jun, who was watching from the side, seemed frustrated, so he grabbed the Golden Bat with wooden tongs and

Sliiiip.

slowly submerged it in water so that the Golden Bat wouldn’t be startled. He couldn’t bring himself to grab it with bare hands due to the dirtiness.

Baet, baet.

When its body was submerged in the warm water, the Golden Bat made a pleasant cry without realizing it from the comfort it was experiencing for the first time in its life. It was the first time it realized it could make such a cry. It was a sound it had forgotten.

As the Golden Bat wiped its body, the water turned completely pitch black.

(Such dirty water from my body?)

The Golden Bat felt very embarrassed that such dirty water came out of its body.

“Now, let’s change the water.”

Fortunately, Se-jun changed the water quickly. However, the water turned black again. Only after Se-jun changed the water ten times did the color of the water stop changing.

“Whew. It’s finished. Golden Bat, you rest for a bit too.”

(Yes.)

Just as Se-jun, who finished cleaning the prison, was about to leave,

Growl.

a sound came from the Golden Bat’s stomach. Come to think of it, there was nothing to eat in the prison.

“Are you hungry? Just a moment.”

Se-jun came out of the prison and brought Chef’s Soup in a bowl.

“Try eating this.”

(Yes. Thank you.)

Lick, lick.

“Then, rest.”

Se-jun left the Golden Bat eating the soup and stepped outside with the animals. He left the door of the sub-space prison open for ventilation.

A while later,

(Baet-hehehe. Delicious. The master this time is a good master.)

Left alone, the Golden Bat ate its fill of soup and muttered to itself.

(I must work hard for the master!)

The Golden Bat’s body disappeared.

One minute later.

Flap, flap.

The Golden Bat reappeared, carrying a golden tumbler with its legs.

(Whew. It’s tough. Since I brought something so big and shiny, the master will like it, right?)

Baerorong.

Exhausted from using its ability, the Golden Bat hung from the ceiling and fell asleep in a good mood, thinking about being praised by Se-jun.

***

Sniff, sniff.

The animals that came out of the sub-space prison buried their noses in their own bodies and smelled the stench. It was the same for Se-jun. He put his nose to his clothes and smelled.

“The smell must have seeped in.”

The stench kept coming from his body.

“This won’t do. Let’s go to the fountain and wash.”

A purification spell was cast on the fountain, so even if they washed, the water was purified quickly, so it was fine.

Pyak!

Cueng!

At Se-jun’s words, the black rabbit and Cuengi, who wanted to quickly get rid of the stench, ran rapidly toward the fountain.

And when Se-jun arrived at the fountain,

“I oppose, meow! I can get rid of the smell with my grooming, meow! I will groom Chairman Park too, meow! Don’t go into the water, meow!”

Theo clung tightly to Se-jun’s lap and refused to wash.

However,

“No. Refusal is refused.”

Se-jun, who did not want to wash with Theo’s saliva, submerged his body in the water with Theo still hanging onto his lap.

“Meow!”

Scramble.

Theo climbed up Se-jun’s body and clung to Se-jun’s face. Thanks to that, Se-jun smelled the stench embedded in Theo’s fur directly.

“Hey… get off. You smell.”

Se-jun grabbed the scruff of Theo’s neck. And he slowly began to submerge Theo in the water.

“Unyan!!!”

Theo, who did not want to wet his body, shook his body and resisted, but

Splash, splash.

the more he did so, the wetter he got. Eventually, Theo’s entire body got wet.

“Puhaha. Representative Theo, you were completely all fur?”

Se-jun laughed, looking at Theo, whose rich fur effect had vanished from being wet.

“Don’t laugh, meow! This is all because of Chairman Park, meow! And those guys are also all fur, meow!”

At Se-jun’s laughter, Theo pointed at the black rabbit and Cuengi.

Pyak!!

Cueng!!

The black rabbit and Cuengi approached, angry at Theo for dragging them into it.

“Meow? Guys, let’s talk this out, meow.”

Theo spoke in a hurry, but

Grab.

he was grabbed by the collar by Cuengi and dragged away.

A while later,

“Fuhuhu. I will show you my swimming skills, meow!”

Pyak!

Cueng!

The three, who were in the same boat, quickly reconciled and began to enjoy playing in the water diligently. While playing, the stench vanished naturally.

And,

“Now, let’s go!”

The end of water play was the water slide. Sitting and holding each other’s hands, they threw their bare bodies into the waterway.

Splaaash.

Cutting through the water, as their bodies rotated, it became more thrilling than before.

“Hehehe. Fun.”

“Fuhuhu. As expected, I am the strongest even in the water, meow!”

Pyak!

Cueng!

Arriving at the end of the waterway, Se-jun and the animals laughed pleasantly.

And,

“Zzz.”

Gororong.

Pyarorong.

Curorong.

Roughly shaking off the water, they climbed onto a pile of green onion leaves and began to sleep. Indeed, the sleep after playing in the water was truly sweet.

At that moment,

“If you sleep like this, you’ll catch a cold.”

Iona approached and dried Se-jun and the animals with drying magic. In particular, she dried Theo’s tail carefully several times. Iona, who dried their fur well like that,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu.”

hummed a song and naturally climbed onto Se-jun’s lap, falling asleep using the tail of Theo, who was sleeping soundly on Se-jun’s lap, as a blanket. She thought there would be no chance for a sweet sleep until night, but she was lucky.

While they were sleeping for a long time like that, Pyupyu came to wake Se-jun and the animals. It was dinner time.

Pyupyu!

She woke her master first and then woke the rest so that no troublesome situation would arise.

“Mmm…”

The Se-jun and the animals who woke up like that moved to the house and had dinner.

“Ah, I’m full. Shall we walk a bit?”

When Se-jun, who had eaten dinner, got up to walk lightly around the farm to digest,

“Uh?!”

a hot sensation was felt from his pocket.

“What is this?”

Se-jun put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a white seed that felt hot.

[Purified Ent’s Enhanced Seed]

Purified the seed of the corrupted ent that absorbed the energy of the Blue Moon.

The seed has been enhanced with the energy of the Blue Moon.

As the corrupt energy is purified, resistance to unclean things has increased.

Upon consumption, all stats permanently increase by 15.

When planted in the ground, the seed will germinate and grow into a powerful purifying ent.

Expiration Date: 100 years

Grade: A+

“The purification has finished.”

Se-jun said, looking at the white seed.

“Where should I plant it?”

It was ambiguous because he did not know how big the purifying ent would grow.

“For now, let’s think of the size I saw last time.”

For now, Se-jun thought that it could grow to the size of the corrupted ent that absorbed the energy of the Blue Moon, and decided to plant the ent seed in a very wide vacant lot.

Thud.

Se-jun dug the ground with his dagger and planted the seed.

[You have planted the Purified Ent’s Enhanced Seed.]

[Your job experience points increase significantly.]

[The proficiency of Sowing Lv. 4 increases significantly.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Boost Lv. 1, the proficiency of Sowing Lv. 4 increases by an additional 5%.]

[The proficiency of Sowing Lv. 4 is filled, and the level increases.]

And,

Tap, tap.

while Se-jun was patting the ground where he planted the seed,

[The Purified Ent’s Enhanced Seed uses its possessed power to grow rapidly.]

Rumble.

A sprout instantly shot up from the Purified Ent’s Enhanced Seed and began to pierce through the ground.