Chapter 75
TL: Hanguk
Inside a warehouse full of treasures collected by Izrael throughout his lifetime.
Swoosh.
Theo was scanning the items in the warehouse with his front paw.
"Representative Theo, what are you doing?"
Iona asked, watching Theo moving his front paw around.
"I'm looking for something that attracts me, meow."
"Attracts you?"
"That's right, meow. I'm searching for an item that my front paw is attracted to, meow!"
"Ah!"
Iona remembered what Sejun had told her about Theo's golden front paw.
And then,
'Humph. It's just an intuition after all. It's no match for my high-dimensional magic.'
Feeling jealous of Theo receiving Sejun's praises, Iona's competitive spirit as a wizard was aroused.
"Representative Theo, let's have a contest!"
"What kind of contest, meow?"
"The one who finds a higher-grade item wins!"
"Alright, meow!"
Even though his opponent was the Chairman of the Wizard’s Association, Theo was not intimidated at all. The source of Theo's confidence was not himself but Sejun.
'Puhuhut. The victory will be mine, meow! Because Park Sejun said my front paw is amazing, meow.'
And so, the treasure hunting competition between Theo and Iona began.
***
Tower 75th Floor, Zenka Lake.
Swoosh.
[You have arrived at the Zenka Lake on the 75th floor of the tower.]
[From now on, find and eliminate the cause that threatens the extinction of the Blue Carp.]
Sejun, Black Rabbit, and Cuengi appeared.
"Wow! It's a different floor!"
Squeak!!!
Kruong!!!
Neither Sejun, Black Rabbit, nor Cuengi were paying any attention to their mission. All three of them were newbies who had just left the 99th floor of the tower for the first time. Everything was fascinating to them.
"What's this?"
Sejun began to examine the grass around the lake,
Squeak!
Kruong!
The Black Rabbit and Cuengi, intrigued by the wide, blue lake they had never seen before, jumped right into the lake.
While Sejun was strolling around the lake and exploring the plants, he noticed a plant with a very familiar appearance.
A fruit shaped like a giant bell in the middle of wide-spread leaves, and a green crown growing above it! It was a pineapple.
"Hehehe. Why is there a pineapple here?"
Snip.
Sejun, excited, drew his dagger and cut the pineapple.
And then,
Thud.
He removed the crown and stored it in his bag. He planned to plant the crown back at the 99th floor of the tower, which would allow him to grow more pineapples.
Seukuk.
He quartered the pineapple and took a bite from one of the slices.
"Ugh!"
Initially, the sour taste sent shivers down his spine, but the more he chewed on the pulp, the less sour it became and the sweetness intensified.
"Wow! It's delicious!"
Sejun, who had quickly devoured a whole pineapple, rose from his seat in admiration. He got up to count how many pineapples were there.
However,
"There are only 12 in total."
There weren't that many.
Snip. Snip.
Sejun harvested all the pineapples first.
And while he was enjoying the second pineapple,
Thud. Thud.
Something was approaching from behind Sejun.
"Huh?!"
As Sejun turned around,
Ribbit. Ribbit.
A 3-meter-tall upright walking frog was drooling at the sight of Sejun.
[Prog]
Why is a frog walking on two feet?! While Sejun was in a state of confusion,
Ribbit.
Swish.
Prog opened its mouth and attacked Sejun with its tongue.
"Humph! Even though I may not look like it, I've trained at the 99th floor of the tower!"
Sejun dodged Prog's tongue and threw his hand ax at Prog.
Thunk!
The hand ax hit Prog right in the head.
[You have defeated the Prog.]
[You gained 500 experience points.]
"Hmph. This is too easy for me. Retrieve!"
Although he already had a considerable advantage dealing with an aquatic monster on land, Sejun was still proud of himself.
When Sejun was feeling triumphant,
[Subordinate 1 has defeated the Prog.]
[Subordinate 2 has defeated the Prog.]
Black rabbit and Cuengi were also fighting underwater.
[You've found one cause of the extinction of the blue carps in Zenka lake on the 75th floor.]
[A Mid-level Administrator quest has been triggered.]
[Mid-level Administrator Quest: Kill all 2291 Progs in Zenka Lake.]
Prog 0/2291
Reward: 10,000 experience points, 1,000 tower coins
Failure: You cannot return to the original location until the quest is completed.
"Are there over 2000 of these frogs?!"
Sejun hurried to Zenka Lake, plunged his face into the water, and examined the underwater scene.
Underwater, he could see Black rabbit and Cuengi energetically chasing fleeing Progs. The pair, trained in the pond, were great swimmers, but Progs were aquatic creatures. Despite their numbers, it took a lot of effort to hunt down a single Prog.
'When will they ever catch them all?'
While watching the battle between Black rabbit and Cuengi,
"But what do these guys taste like?"
Suddenly, Sejun was curious about the taste of Prog meat.
So, he started a fire and began preparing a dish using Prog meat.
***
When Theo and Iona were having a contest in the warehouse, a black wolf, who had been observing Zenka Lake, ran towards them.
"Chief Hegel, we have a big problem."
"What is it?"
Hegel, who had already had a near-death experience with Iona, wasn't particularly interested in his subordinate's report.
"There are some suspicious guys appearing in Zenka Lake."
"Suspicious guys?"
"Yes... they're roasting Progs."
"What?! They're roasting Progs?!"
"Yes! And it tastes so good! Slurp."
The black wolf reported, relishing the memory of the taste.
"Taste? What are you talking about? Did you eat Prog meat?"
He seemed to think his subordinate was out of his mind. Prog meat was poisonous and inedible.
"Let's just go!"
The wolf, eager to return to Zenka Lake, urged Hegel.
"Hmm. Elka, I'll be back from Zenka Lake soon. Please let Representative Theo know."
"Yes. Understood."
Hegel hurriedly ran toward Zenka Lake.
***
"Here it is, Mr. Sejun."
The wolves that came out of the water dragged the fainted progs by their necks to Sejun.
"Thanks."
Thud! Thud!
[You have defeated the Prog.]
[You have gained 500 experience points.]
[You have defeated the Prog.]
[You have gained 500 experience points.]
Sejun slaughtered two progs with his hand axe and handed the progs' skewers to the wolves.
Chew, chew.
"It's really chewy!"
"It's delicious!"
The wolves ate the food and went back into the water.
An hour earlier.
Curious about the taste of prog, Sejun started roasting the prog meat, which he prepared by wrapping it around a detoxifying green onion.
For safety, Sejun always brought detoxifying green onions, just like a regular medicine, because he didn't know what kind of poison might be in the ingredients.
When the dish was ready,
[You have achieved the achievement of making Prog-Green Onion Rolls for the first time in the Tower.]
[The recipe for Prog-Green Onion Rolls is registered in Cooking Lv. 3.]
[Your proficiency in Cooking Lv. 3 increases significantly.]
[Your proficiency in Cooking Lv. 3 is filled, and the level increases.]
Sejun's cooking level increased.
And
[Special effect: Comfortable underwater movement is added to Prog-Green Onion Rolls due to the effect of Cooking Lv. 4.]
"Special effect?"
A special effect was added to the dish. It was new information added as the cooking level reached 4.
Sejun checked the completed dish.
[Prog-Green Onion Rolls]
→ Roasted detoxifying green onions wrapped in prog meat.
→ Thanks to skilled cooking skills, the prog meat and detoxifying green onions are well roasted and taste very good.
→ Detoxifying green onions have detoxified the poison in prog meat.
→ Special effect: Comfortable underwater movement
→ Chef: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Expiration date: 5 days
→ Grade: C+
As Sejun was checking the options for the Prog-Green Onion Rolls,
Kroung...
Squawk...
The exhausted black rabbit and cuengi came out of the water from chasing progs.
And
Kroung!
Squawk!
The two hungry ones ate the prog-green onion rolls, and started bobbing in excitement.
"Should I try it too."
Sejun also took a bite of the roasted prog.
Chew.
'It tastes like chicken'
The meat was soft, but the taste was just like unsalted chicken.
Gulp.
[You have consumed prog-green onion roll.]
[Due to the special effect: Comfortable underwater movement makes your underwater movements comfortable for 30 minutes.]
"I should have brought some salt..."
Sejun felt a little regretful.
Then
"Grrrr, You can't do that!"
Five black wolves came running, shouting.
"What's going on?"
Kroung!
Squawk!
Sejun and the animals raised their weapons in caution against the black wolves.
"There's poison in prog meat."
"That's right! You need to vomit right away!"
The black wolves looked at them with worried expressions.
"Oh! Thanks. But this one is detoxified. Do you want to try one too?"
Sejun said to the black wolves while taking a bite of the prog-green onion roll.
"......"
As Sejun ate the third prog-green onion roll,
Gulp.
"Um... I'll just have one."
"Me too..."
"Here."
The black wolves got the prog-green onion rolls from Sejun and ate them.
And then,
"Huh?! It says it makes moving in water comfortable?"
The black wolves were surprised to see the message that appeared after eating the prog-green onion roll.
"In that case..."
In order to check the effect mentioned in the message, the black wolves jumped into the Zenka Lake. If this was the case, they might be able to easily accomplish the tasks they had been working on.
After a while,
The black wolves, who had successfully hunted the progs, came up to the ground with the progs in their mouths.
Awwoo!
A black wolf called its comrades.
"Where's the good food?!"
Tadada.
The black wolves flocked to eat Sejun's dish.
***
"This is..."
Hegel couldn't continue his sentence while watching the spectacle unfolding at the Zenka Lake.
The wolves hunted the progs in the pond and brought them to a black-haired man, who then killed the progs.
And the wolves, having received meat from the man, went back into the water.
Then,
"Chief Hegel!"
Tribe vice chief Falca ran up to him.
"Vice-Chief Falca, what's happening?"
"First, try eating this."
Falca handed over the prog-green onion roll he had been holding to Hegel.
Chew chew.
"Oh! This meat is delicious!"
Hegel said while eating the prog-green onion roll. It felt like the first time he was eating proper meat since he came here to do the mission.
Gulp.
And then, a message appeared.
"Could it be?! Is it because of this dish that our wolves are able to hunt the progs?"
"Yes. Thanks to that man's cooking, it seems like we will be able to successfully finish the mission."
Falca pointed at Sejun.
"Is that so? Then I should thank him."
"Yes, let's go."
Falca guided Hegel to Sejun.
And then,
"Mr. Sejun, this is our Black Wolf tribe's chief, Hegel."
'Sejun?'
Upon hearing Falca's words, Hegel's mind went blank.
The prestigious name of the Great Black Dragon, Park.Se.Jun, which Elka had told him.
And the black dragon tattoo visible on Sejun's right hand back.. That tattoo was only allowed to the Black Dragon's tribe.
It's the Great Black Dragon!
"I greet the Great Black Dragon!!!"
Hegel quickly prostrated himself in front of Sejun.
And then,
"We greet the Great Black Dragon!!!"
The other black wolves also followed Hegel and prostrated themselves in front of Sejun.
Yawn.
Grrr.
Despite the loud shouts of the black wolves, the exhausted Black Rabbit and Cuengi did not care and took a nap.
***
"Meow?!"
Theo, who had been inspecting the items in the warehouse, felt something strange.
'I feel Park Sejun's lap nearby, meow!'
Even though it was incomprehensible, Theo believed in his ability to sense Sejun's lap.
"Iona, I have to go check it out, meow!"
Theo quickly ran out of the warehouse.
"Heeheehee. It's my victory."
Iona raised the B-grade item she had found in the warehouse, claiming her victory. Who the real winner was would only be known as time passed.
*****
Chapter 75: Having a Contest
*****
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