Solo Farming In The Tower

Chapter 77: Returning

TL: Hanguk

“Theo!

Sejun instinctively ran to protect Theo from the collapsing pile of junk.

However,

“…meow?!”

“…huh?!”

Theo and Sejun’s gazes crossed.

Theo was quickly getting out of the falling pile of junk, passing Sejun who was rushing towards him. Come to think of it, Theo’s speed was incredibly fast.

‘Who was worried about who!’

Sejun, the weakest one on the 99th floor of the tower, smiled sadly as he looked at Theo.

“President Park!”

Theo hurriedly stopped and called Sejun, but

whoosh.

The pile of junk began to engulf Sejun.

Just then,

“Mr. Sejun!”

“Mr. Sejun!”

Elka and Hegel jumped into the pile of junk and protected Sejun with their large bodies.

Thud.

At the same time, a giant gray rock of about 3 meters in size, hit the wolves’ bodies and fell to the ground. It seemed like something that Cuengi had brought.

Sejun would have been in trouble if it weren’t for the wolves.

“Whew. Elka, Hegel, thanks.”

Sejun expressed his gratitude to the two giant wolves.

“No, it’s an honor to be able to protect the Great Black Dragon!”

“I feel the same!”

The wolves wagged their tails, pleased with Sejun’s praise.

“President Park! Were you trying to save me just now, meow?”

Theo, moved by Sejun’s attempt to save him, ran over and examined Sejun’s body.

“Are you okay, meow? Are you hurt anywhere, meow?!”

Especially focusing on his knees.

“I’m okay. But what were you trying to pull out?”

“This right here, meow!”

Theo pointed at the giant rock and exclaimed.

“This rock?!”

“Yes, meow! I felt an incredible attraction I’ve never felt before in my life, meow!!”

“Really?!”

Sejun, who knew Theo’s golden front paw better than anyone, quickly got up and examined the rock. On the surface, it was just an ordinary rock. Nothing special.

[Fragment of ???]

???

“Oh!”

This was different from the items so far. Even the name was a question mark.

“Iona, can you use some appraisal magic?”

“Yes.”

“Hurry up and do it, meow! This is my victory, meow!”

“Tweet, tweet, tweet. You think you can beat me with such a rock?”

Iona scoffed at Theo and used appraisal magic on the rock.

However,

[Fragment of ???]

???

“Huh?!”

Even Iona’s appraisal magic didn’t reveal any information about the item.

“Kyoo-!”

Iona, enraged that her magic did not work, angrily pulled out the Staff of Disaster from her back.

And,

“Eye of Truth!”

She used the highest-tier appraisal magic.

Flash.

A bright light from Iona’s staff seeped into the gray rock.

[Fragment of ???]

The ninth fragment of ???.

Divine power flows from it.

Grade: ???

This time there was a small change, but a change nonetheless.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help, Mr. Sejun. This is my limit.”

Iona said, looking disappointed.

“That’s okay.”

“At least it doesn’t seem like a cursed item since it’s emanating divine power.”

The fact that Iona couldn’t identify the item through her abilities meant that this item was of an incredibly high grade. Sejun decided to be content with the fact that it had no curse for now.

I’ll have to ask Aileen to appraise it later.’

Sejun decided to take the rock to the 99th floor of the tower later for examination. Aileen, who was short on magic, couldn’t see or send messages to anywhere outside the 99th floor with her crystal orb.

“Uh…Representative Theo, I’ve lost.”

Iona admitted her defeat to Theo. The fact that the item’s information wasn’t fully revealed even with the use of the Eye of Truth was evidence that the rock was at least a legendary-grade item.

“Puhuhuhut. Iona, don’t be too sad, meow! It’s only natural that you can’t beat me, meow! Now, stamp it, meow!”

Theo proudly pulled out a contract, with a triumphant look.

“Stamp?”

“That’s right, meow! The loser must listen to the winner’s request, meow!”

‘Theo, nice!’

From behind, Sejun quietly gave a thumbs-up, cheering for Theo.

A moment later,

“President Park, here’s the contract, meow!”

Theo handed Sejun a contract stamped with a cute hamster footprint, then confidently climbed onto Sejun’s lap, and lay down showing his belly.

“···What are you doing, meow? Pet me, meow!”

When Sejun stayed still, Theo placed Sejun’s hand on his belly and spoke.

“Alright.”

As he had contributed, he decided to give a reward.

Pat, pat.

“Meow meow meow. I’m happy, meow…”

Just as Theo was about to fall asleep with Sejun’s petting,

Squeak!

Kroung!

The black rabbit and Cuengi brought up new treasures.

“Theo, are you drawn to anything else?”

Sejun quietly asked with anticipation.

“Meow…”

Theo, lying down with his eyes closed, stretched out his forepaws and activated his detector.

But,

“There’s nothing attracting me. They’re all useless.”

Theo swung his forepaw as he spoke.

Thud.

Squeak!…

Kroung…

Our treasures are useless?! The black rabbit and Cuengi were shocked at Theo’s words.

Kroung!

“Meow?!”

Cuengi grabbed Theo’s scruff and took him to their treasures.

And,

Squeak!!

Kroung!

You think this is useless? Listen carefully! The black rabbit and Cuengi began to explain their treasures in detail, sitting Theo between them.

***

“Uh…it’s hot.”

Sejun, who had dozed off while watching Theo being lectured by the black rabbit and Cuengi, had to wake up due to the stifling heat.

Before he knew it, Cuengi was behind Sejun, and Theo and the black rabbit were sleeping on his lap.

Snore.

Snore.

Zzzzz…zzzz…

“Huh?”

At first, he thought he had misheard Cuengi’s snoring.

But,

Snore.

Snore.

Zzzzz.

Zzzzz.

There were four snoring sounds. When Sejun looked towards the sound, he found Iona sleeping there, using Theo’s tail as a blanket. Now, even the Chairman of the Wizard’s Association was entranced by Sejun’s lap.

As expected, Sejun’s lap was popular with the animals.

‘Do I have to sleep again?’

Sejun was about to close his eyes and try to sleep again, not wanting to disturb the soundly sleeping animals, when

“Excuse me…”

Someone called Sejun.

“Huh? When did you guys get here?”

It was the interns who had returned home with Theo’s permission.

“There’s nothing to do right now, so rest a bit.”

“Yes. But there’s something we need to discuss…”

Intern Bill hesitated to speak.

“What is it?”

“Just a moment. Guys, come out!”

Upon Bill’s shout

Whoosh.

30 cats, which had been waiting at a distance, ran over.

“Hello! We’ll work hard in exchange for grilled fish!”

“Grilled fish?”

The cats from the Granier village, suffering from food shortages, followed the interns to find Sejun, hoping to earn grilled fish.

Then

[The cause for the extinction of the blue carp in the Zenka Lake on the 75th floor of the tower has been found.]

[A second mid-level administrator quest has begun.]

[Second Mid-level Administrator Quest: Prevent the cats of Granier village from hunting blue carp fish for a year.]

Rewards: 15,000 XP, 1500 tower coins

Failure: Until the quest is completed, you cannot return to your original place.

A new quest appeared.

“Theo, wake up.”

Sejun woke up the sleeping Theo.

“What is it, meow?”

“I need you to get the contracts stamped.”

Sejun hired the cats for a year as guards to prevent them from hunting blue carp fish in Lake Zenka, in exchange for three grilled fish per day as a wage.

And then

[You have completed the second mid-level administrator quest.]

[You received 15,000 XP as a reward for completing the second mid-level administrator quest.]

[You received 1500 tower coins as a reward for completing the second mid-level administrator quest.]

The second quest was completed.

***

On the 249th day of being stranded. Three days have passed since the hunting of Progs.

Progs 2243/2291

“Where are the rest hiding?”

Sejun said, checking the remaining number of Progs.

Only 48 Progs were left, but he couldn’t find where they were hiding. A large-scale search had been launched since yesterday to find the remaining 48 Progs, but it had been fruitless.

However, there was another discovery. While searching for treasure, the Black Rabbit and Cuengi found a hiding place for blue carp fish, avoided by the Progs. There were ten blue fish left in the hiding place.

For the time being, Sejun had the cats, hired as guards, take turns guarding the vicinity of the hiding place of the blue carp fish to prevent their extinction.

While continuing the search for Progs, Cuengi lifted a broad stone about 10m in size from the bottom of the lake.

Sejun had instructed Cuengi to bring up any suspicious rocks as there might be other fragments on the lake bottom.

Thud.

As Cuengi lifted the broad stone,

(Huh?)

Ribbit. Ribbit.

Cuengi’s eyes met those of the Progs hiding under the rock. The Progs had been hiding under the rock, which was why they had not been found.

Kwaang!

(Ah!)

Cuengi put the stone down and called the wolves nearby.

***

“Line up, meow!”

When mealtime came, Theo lined up the guards of Lake Zenka and distributed three grilled fish each.

Having heard that the food situation in the Granier village was currently poor, Sejun considered the families of the cats and decided to triple their wages for a while, providing nine grilled fish per day.

After all, the 99th floor pond was teeming with piranhas. However, the grilled fish that Theo brought was not enough, so the interns went to the 99th floor with the wolves to get piranhas.

While Sejun was sitting on the fragment of ??? and looking around,

“I found them!”

Splash!

The wolves bustled and jumped into Lake Zenka.

After a moment,

Splat.

The wolves came out of the lake with frogs in their mouths one by one and stood in front of Sejun.

And then,

“We found all 48 frogs.”

Hegel, representing the wolves, reported to Sejun.

“Well done. Everyone gather around.”

Sejun called all the animals.

Then when all the animals gathered, Sejun slaughtered the frogs.

[You have completed the mid-level administrator quest.]

[You gained 15,000 experience points as a reward for completing the mid-level administrator quest.]

[You gained 1,500 tower coins as a reward for completing the mid-level administrator quest.]

[You have fulfilled your duty as a mid-level administrator.]

[You will return to the 99th floor in 30 seconds.]

“Cuengi, pick up the rock.”

Kuong!

At Sejun’s command, Cuengi picked up the rock item with a flash.

“You guys did a good job.”

Sejun quickly exchanged greetings with the animals as he was about to return.

“Theo, take the interns and visit the 38th floor. Hegel, come to the 99th floor.”

“Got it, meow! I’ll finish quickly and go, meow!”

“I’ll also hurry and follow!”

“Kyoot Kyoot. I’ll come and see you soon too.”

When Iona spoke while looking at Sejun’s knee,

“Iona, don’t come, meow!”

Theo yelled, wary of the newly appeared competitor.

“Kyoot-I don’t want to! It’s my heart’s decision!”

Swoosh.

While the two were fighting, Sejun, the black rabbit & Cuengi disappeared.

***

The administrator area of the tower.

“Kwaaaa! Why hasn’t that human come yet, even though it’s been three days?!”

Aileen, who couldn’t know the situation of the 75th floor, was very frustrated not being able to get news about Sejun.

“Kkik. Did he get hurt somewhere?”

She was particularly worried about the weak Sejun getting hurt somewhere.

Just when Aileen was worrying about Sejun,

[Mid-level administrator Top Farmer Park Sejun has completed his mission.]

[Returning to the 99th floor of the Tower.]

“Hehehe! The wonderful human is back!”

Aileen, now able to see Sejun again, was happy to see his return and looked at the 99th floor with the crystal orb.

“Huh?! No! Another unidentified item! It’s dangerous! The human indeed can’t do without me! Hehehe.”

Seeing the huge unidentified rock item that Cuengi had put down, Aileen smiled brightly. It was her time to shine.

“Hehehe. I should show him the magnificent image of the great black dragon.”

Aileen, having seized the opportunity to show off, was about to speak to Sejun when the Black Dragon statue spoke first.