While Sejun was healing the banana tree, lunchtime arrived, and the animals returned after finishing their treasure hunt. As expected, the wolf tribe won a landslide victory by tracking the scent of the golden bat.
Elka took first place with five silver ingots, followed by the black rabbit in second with two, and the rest were the wolves with 85, the monkeys with seven, and the black minotaurs found one, taking third place.
Moo!
[Let us do it one more time!]
Although 500 of them only found one silver ingot, the black minotaur seemed to find the treasure hunt itself enjoyable and wanted to do it again without any fuss over losing.
“Then let’s eat lunch and do it again.”
After all, the wolves and black minotaurs had nothing to do until Sejun set off towards the 99th floor of the tower.
‘It went well.’
Sejun had felt sorry for making the animals wait while he healed the banana tree, but he was relieved that they had found a way to pass the time enjoyably.
“The first-place prize will be a special dish of your choice.”
“Master Sejun, really?”
Elka was excited at Sejun’s words.
“Yeah, Elka, what do you want to eat?”
“Then I want SeP’s soup.”
“Eh? That’s it?”
Since Sejun made SeP’s soup almost every day, he asked again.
“Is that all you want?”
“Yes. That’s all I want.”
To Elka, SeP’s soup was a meaningful dish, the first to feed the tribesmen’s stomachs well. Perhaps because of the good memories from that time, Elka was always happy to eat SeP’s soup.
“Okay. Got it.”
Sejun didn’t have to do anything special since SeP’s soup was already on the lunch menu. Instead, he added special ingredients for Elka’s efforts.
Then,
Ppik?
The black rabbit asked if there was a prize for second place.
“Of course, there’s a prize for second place. Here.”
Sejun pulled out a box filled with 100 carrots from void storage space and gave it to the black rabbit.
Pyeak!
Black rabbit, with an expression like it had the whole world, hugged the box of carrots and didn’t know what to do.
Then
Moo…
Ook…
Except for the wolves, whose attention was fixed on SeP’s soup, the black minotaurs and monkeys salivated, looking at Sejun. What will you give us?
“Here’s the third-place prize.”
Sejun gave five sun golden sweet potatoes each to the monkeys who had found one silver ingot.
Ook!
The monkeys were thrilled to receive the golden sweet potatoes. They shone like sweet potatoes given by a god! They didn’t taste much different from power sweet potatoes, but they had a visual impact.
And then
“Minotaur 1003, I’ll give you ten stacks of green onion leaves when we go to the 99th floor later.”
Mooo!
Minotaur 1003, the only black minotaur to find a silver ingot, was pleased with Sejun’s words.
Thus, the modest award ceremony of the 1st Sejun Treasure Hunt Competition came to an end.
“Let’s eat now.”
Since the other dishes were already prepared, only the soup needed to be served.
“This one’s for Elka, the winner.”
Sejun handed over SeP’s soup, generously filled with specially added ingredients and meat, to Elka. The third-place wolves, for reference, got only a meat-filled SeP’s soup.
“Oh! Isn’t this a bone?!”
Sejun had boiled wild boar bones from Red Ribbon’s treasure vault in SeP’s soup for Elka’s portion alone. He thought that the wolf, with habits similar to a dog, would like the bone.
“Thank you!”
Elka eagerly started eating the soup.
Slurp. Slurp.
After a few sips of soup
Chomp. Chomp.
After chewing the bone a few times
Grrr.
The other wolves looked enviously at Elka.
“Let’s eat, too. Golden bat, please start hiding the treasures ahead of time.”
The golden bat, acting as an organizing agent, had to hide the treasures first for the treasure hunt.
(Yes! Leave it to me!)
Flap. Flap.
The golden bat flew away to hide the 99 silver ingots, and during that time, Sejun and the animals finished lunch and had a nap.
Snore.
Zzz.
Brrr.
Pyiee.
Theo and the black rabbit napped on Sejun’s lap and Cuengi’s leg, respectively.
Then
Flap. Flap.
The golden bat, having hidden all the silver ingots, returned and enjoyed the refreshing watermelon Sejun had sliced on ice cubes.
Slurp.
Above Sejun’s head, who was wearing a straw hat, the bat happily sucked on the watermelon.
And then
Zzz.
The golden bat, having finished eating, also settled on Sejun’s head and started napping.
So everyone took a sweet nap, and then
“Let’s start the treasure hunt!”
The 2nd Sejun Treasure Hunt Competition began.
Grrr!
Moo!
Only wolves and Black Minotaurs participated this time. The black rabbit hung on Sejun’s back and slept, complaining about lack of sleep, and the monkeys wanted to play more, but they had to farm mangoes and watermelons.
[The Farmer’s Warm Touch Lv. 4 is activated.]
[The banana tree’s disease is slowly healed by your touch.]
Sejun also started healing the banana tree again.
15 seconds later.
[The banana tree’s disease has been healed.]
[Your proficiency in Farmer’s Warm Touch Lv. 4 has slightly increased.]
[The banana tree grows slightly while you touch it.]
“It’s definitely faster now.”
Initially, he thought the healing speed had increased with the level of the Farmer’s Warm Touch, but there was an even bigger reason.
Pip-pip.
The reason was the golden bat’s song. The banana trees regained their energy by listening to the golden bat’s song for several days, shortening Sejun’s healing time. Thanks to that, it only took 10~20 seconds to heal a tree with the skill.
‘I could probably heal 1,000 trees a day at this rate.’
Sejun looked at the golden bat with proud eyes.
(Pip-pip. I was in the darkness. The one who pulled me out~ was Sejun~)
Perhaps bored of singing the same song, the golden bat started composing its own. The content praised Sejun for pulling it out of the darkness. Sejun pretended not to listen, but paid close attention to the lyrics.
“This is embarrassing…”
Though embarrassed, he didn’t stop the praising song. He didn’t want to crush the ambition of a budding singer. It wasn’t for personal satisfaction—absolutely not.
Then,
“Do you like praise that much, meow? Then I’ll praise you, meow!”
At this moment, Theo showed a sharp intuition. As Sejun’s attention turned to the golden bat, Theo wanted to steal the spotlight.
And
“President Park only praises money, meow! He also praises working his subordinates hard without rest, meow! And….”
Theo started praising what he thought were Sejun’s virtues.
‘Is this an insult?’
Although Theo’s praise was sincere, to Sejun, it sounded like an insult.
“Representative Theo, eat this and be quiet.”
Sejun offered Theo a churu to shut him up. He didn’t like feeling insulted.
However,
“I’m not hungry, meow! And I still have much praise left, meow!”
Theo insisted on praising more. The keen intuition he had shown earlier was gone…
‘Is he feeding me this?’
As Sejun’s anger meter began to rise,
‘Pffft. My praise worked, meow!’
Theo, looking at Sejun offering the Churu, was sure that his praise had an effect and praised him more.
And eventually, Theo’s praise effect showed.
“Representative Theo, quickly go to the 99th floor of the tower, gather the crops, trade, and come back.”
“Meow?! Now, meow?”
“Yes. As you said, Representative Theo, I only care about money and make my subordinates work without rest.”
“Meow?!”
Even a backfire is an effect.
‘Why, meow? Why does he make me work after praising him, meow?’
Theo began to pack his things in confusion. He was Theo, the good obedient cat who always did whatever Sejun told him to.
***
“Kyoot, Kyoot, Kyoot. You all, dismantle the Fire Wizard Tower, Destruction Wizard Tower, and Meteor Wizard Tower and come to the 99th floor. I’ll go ahead and get permission from the owner of the 99th floor.”
Iona spoke to the wizards from where the Gravity Wizard Tower, now just an empty plot, used to stand.
Since the owner of the Wizard Tower had died, it was natural to dismantle the remaining three towers. The assets from the dismantled towers were to be used for the reconstruction of the Gravity Wizard Tower.
“Also, bring any wizard who wants to join the Gravity Wizard Tower.”
“Understood. But will it be alright? The Minotaur King might not easily permit the construction of a tower on the 99th floor.”
“It’ll be fine. And the current owner of the 99th floor is not the Minotaur King.”
“What? Has the owner of the waypoint changed?”
“I haven’t heard such news…”
The elder wizards looked grave at Iona’s words. The Minotaur King was known as the strongest in the Black Tower. How could they not have known that the ownership of the waypoint had changed?
Not knowing such important information indicated a problem in the wizard tower’s ability to gather information.
In addition to that, there are currently 500 Black Minotaurs heading down, with all the information of the wizard tower’s informants concentrated on the 99th and 77th floors. It was a truly serious problem that no information had come in.
“That’s not it. Although he’s not the owner of the waypoint, there is someone who has become the new owner of the 99th floor of the tower.”
“You mean there’s another being as powerful as the Minotaur King?”
“No, that’s not it. The new owner of the 99th floor of the tower is very weak.”
“Weak, you say?”
The words of Iona confused the elder wizards. The strongest on a floor becomes the owner and protects the waypoint. That was common knowledge of the tower. But weak? Very weak at that?
“Yes. But if any of you are rude to him, I won’t stay still. Even if I don’t, the beings protecting him will step forward first. Now, hurry up and move!”
Iona set the wizards off and hurried to the 99th floor. There was an order to things. First, she had to get permission from Kaiser and Aileen to build the wizard tower.
-Aileen gave her permission. Of course, I permit it as well.
It was troublesome enough managing the farm, having to chase away the occasional fire ants and extend the water canals as the fields expanded.
Kaiser was thinking of utilizing the wizards for the farm’s boundary and facility repairs.
***
“It’s finished.”
Finally, the healing of 5381 banana trees was completed.
Grrr…
Moo…
Ook…
The animals seemed disappointed at Sejun’s words. Until now, the treasure hunt competitions had been held seven times, both in the morning and afternoon.
“Don’t be too disappointed; we’ll hold it again sometime.”
Sejun decided to hold the competition periodically for the animals who loved treasure hunting.
Then,
[The disease of the banana trees on the 77th floor of the tower has been completely healed.]
[The 77th floor farm is activated.]
[Bananas begin to grow again on the 77th floor farm.]
[The name of the 77th-floor farm’s land deed is updated to the 77th-floor banana farm land deed.]
A message appeared that the name of the land deed had been updated.
“Take good care from now on.”
Sejun said to the monkeys who had agreed to manage the banana farm.
Ook!
Ook!
The monkeys who had signed a contract to receive part of the harvested bananas, as well as a monthly payment in crops or tower coins, bowed and asked to be entrusted with the responsibility.
Receiving money for doing the honorable work of a deity made the monkeys very happy.
Just as Sejun was about to leave the 77th floor’s banana farm in the hands of the monkeys,
[The banana trees reward you for curing their disease.]
“A reward?”
Suddenly, yellow bananas began to grow rapidly from the banana trees, one bunch at a time.
“Bananas…”
Sejun approached the banana tree and carefully cut off a bunch with his dagger.
And then
Snap.
He broke off the stem of one banana and peeled it slowly, placing it in his mouth.
“Hmm. Delicious.”
It was a bit firm since it had just been harvested, but it seemed like it would ripen and become soft in a few days.
“Guys, let’s harvest.”
On the 290th day of being stranded, Sejun harvested bananas from his banana farm with the animals. When he returned to the 99th floor, he was able to take bananas with him.
*****
*****
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