Chapter 78: Discovering a Trace
TL: Hanguk
[You have arrived on the 99th floor of the Tower.]
"Home!"
Upon returning from the 75th floor of the Tower, Sejun raised his arms and shouted,
Squeak!
Kreong!
The black rabbit, Cuengi, also shouted following Sejun. It had only been three days since they left, but home felt very welcoming.
Kreong?
Cuengi asked Sejun what to do with the rock he was holding. It seemed he wanted to quickly put it down and go to his mother.
"Just put it down there."
Kreong!
Thud!
Upon Sejun's words, Cuengi immediately smacked the rock down,
Kreong!
and dashed towards his mother, the Crimson Giant Bear.
Squeak!
The black rabbit also rushed towards his family to inform them of his arrival.
"Shall I plant the pineapples first?"
The now alone Sejun took out 12 pineapple crowns from his bag and planted them in the field. Then, he looked at the Corrupted Ent's Enhanced Seed that was left alone in the corner of his bag.
[Enhanced Seed of the Corrupted Ent (Purification Rate 50%)]
'If it receives the Flame of Purification one more time, it will be completely purified.'
While Sejun was looking at the seed,
Flap. Flap.
The Black Dragon Statue flew towards him.
-Ha ha ha. Park Sejun, you incompetent fellow! You can't even appraise an item!
Seeing the unappraised rock, Kaiser spoke in a proud voice.
-Ha ha ha. I, Kaiser Pritani, the Great Black Dragon, will specially appraise it for you.
Kaiser took the lead without being asked, wanting to show off his grandeur. He also wanted to appear as a cool grandfather to Aileen, who was undoubtedly watching Sejun through the crystal orb.
As the Black Dragon Statue perched on the rock,
Flash.
A strong light exploded from the rock.
Flash.
The light exploded once more.
Then,
[The Tower's administrator is upset that their grandfather started appraising the item when she was about to do it.]
[The Tower's administrator asks you to tell their grandfather that she will not talk to him anymore.]
Aileen, who had her chance to shine taken away, was upset with Kaiser.
"Kaiser, Aileen says she won't talk to you anymore."
-...What?! Aileen! Let's talk, come on! Aileen~!
While Kaiser was calling out to Aileen in desperation, Sejun checked the options of the now appraised rock.
[Fragment of the Divine Stone]
→ It is the ninth fragment of the Divine Stone.
→ Divine power beneficial to the surroundings flows out of it.
→ The more fragments you gather, the stronger the divine power becomes.
→ Grade: S
"Divine power beneficial to the surroundings?"
He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, but didn't feel much. The item's options seemed mediocre compared to its grade.
"But it's an S grade after all."
Sejun decided to be satisfied with having an S grade item in his front yard for now.
He then looked around the farm to see if anything special had happened in his absence.
That's when
"Huh?"
Sejun spotted something that wasn't there before. A wooden pipe, made by splitting a tree and hollowing out the inside, was connected from the fountain to the field.
The height of the fountain was 1 m, so the water inside the wooden pipe flowed from the fountain to the field according to the gradient.
"Oh! Did the gray rabbits make an canal?"
Even without him, everyone was doing well. Sejun went around the farm to let the animals know that he was back and went down to the cave. He had to check the crops in the storage.
"Flamie! I'm back!"
When Sejun called out to Flamie, who was basking in the warm sunlight in the center of the cave,
[Master! Welcome back!]
Flamie greeted Sejun in a lively voice.
“Were you well?”
[Yes! Master, but is there something new outside? I've been feeling a warm energy permeating my body for a while. So I'm full of energy and feeling good!]
It seemed that the S-grade stone did have some effect.
[Ah! I'm happier to see the master! The warm energy just made me feel better! The joy of seeing you is much bigger!]
Flamie emphasized again that he was glad to see Sejun, in case Sejun misunderstood.
"I see."
Sejun stroked Flamie's leaves. It was speaking so cutely like that, he couldn't help but adore it.
After conversing with Flamie, Sejun checked the crops in the storage and went to bed early.
***
In front of the portal connected to the Black Tower.
"Hmm..."
Kaiser was sitting at the table with a serious look on his face, deep in thought.
'Did he have another fight with Aileen?'
Anton, who had gone out to take care of something, thought when he saw Kaiser with a serious expression.
"Father, what's the matter?"
It didn't seem like a big deal, but he asked just in case.
"Son, I've found a trace of the Creator God."
"Wh...What?!"
Anton, who typically maintained a poker face and rarely showed his emotions, had his poker face broken by Kaiser's unexpected answer.
"Kuhahaha. I knew you'd react like that. I was really surprised at first too."
Kaiser laughed, looking at Anton's bewildered face.
"Where?! Where was the trace of the Creator God found?"
Anton asked excitedly. The Creator God was the being who created the towers they were managing. The dragons had been looking for traces of the Creator God for over 3,000 years.
3,000 years ago.
"You shall rebuild the world by finding my traces."
The Creator God left those words and completely disappeared from the world. As a result, their world was destroyed. No, many worlds were destroyed.
They wanted to know. Why did the Creator God create the tower? Why did he entrust them with its management?
"The trace of the Creator God came out from the Black Tower we were managing."
"What?!"
"It's part of a stone, Park Sejun found it in a lake on the 75th floor of the tower."
"The tower?!"
Anton was taken aback by Kaiser's words. They had been diligently searching for the traces of the Creator God outside... and it was inside the tower?
It really was darkest under the lamp post.¹
"If it's a stone, what was written on it?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"What?"
"The found stone was the end part, so there was no content."
"Oh... Oh! Is Park Sejun safe?"
Anton asked hastily. It was a trace of the Creator God, after all. Just being near it could harm an ordinary being.
Sejun was the one who could assist in treating Aileen's Dragon Heart. It was crucial that nothing bad happened to him.
"Hahaha. Who am I?! I am none other than the Great Kaiser Pritani, the Head of the Great Pritani Family. I..."
Kaiser started to talk about how he appraised the stone Sejun brought.
"The moment I started to appraising it, I could feel the divine power of the Creator stirring inside the stone."
"And then?"
Anton swallowed and asked.
"I thought the moment the stone's seal was lifted, Sejun and the others around him would die. So, I quickly gave it a plausible name and discreetly resealed it. How's that for quick thinking? Hahaha!"
Kaiser bragged.
"Phew. You did well, Father."
Anton said with relief. He didn't like Kaiser's bragging, but he had to admit when something was worth acknowledging.
Resealing an object containing the divine power of the Creator was no easy task. If it hadn't been for Kaiser, it could have been a disaster.
"Son, there's something more important than that."
"What is it?"
"Aileen doesn't want to talk to me, so could you mediate for us?"
"Kaiser, who possesses tremendous power, found it nearly impossible to soothe his granddaughter's anger."
And,
"I have some urgent work to do..."
It was the same for Anton as well.
***
2nd floor of the tower.
The land, which was close to a wasteland and exceeded 1,000 square meters, had turned green.
And people were walking between the farms divided into 100 square meters each.
"Welcome to our Gagel's Experience Farm."
The guide from Gagel welcomed the hunters.
"Really, if we just cut these, they'll give us experience like monsters?"
The hunter, a young man in his mid-twenties armed with expensive gear, asked while looking at a squirming tomato plant.
He had paid 100 million won to use the Experience Farm.
"Yes. This is a plant-type monster that we at Gagel accidentally discovered. Thanks to the efforts of our research team, we can now grow it in large quantities."
Since the word "mutant" could create a negative perception, Gagel deceived even their employees, referring to the polluted tomatoes as plant-type monsters discovered in the tower.
"Mr. David, why don't you try cutting it?"
The guide pointed to the bottom of the tomato and spoke to David.
swish.
David used his sword to cut the bottom of the tomato. It was cut smoothly and
[You've killed the Contaminated Cherry Tomato.]
[You've earned 33 experience points.]
He gained experience points.
"Oh! It's real?"
"Yes. Now, experience why this place is called an experience farm."
The guide handed David a torch.
"Just burn everything."
"Great!"
whoosh.
David happily began to burn the contaminated cherry tomatoes at the guide's words.
If he burned the entire 100-square-meter area, he would accumulate about 5,000 to 7,000 experience points.
Gagel was receiving 100 million won as a price for gaining experience from the 100-square-meter farm, but wealthy hunters who wanted to accumulate experience safely and quickly were waiting to use Gagel's experience farm and were making reservations.
"How many days does it take for the crops to grow back?"
"About a month would be sufficient."
"Thomas, expand the size of the farm by 100 times."
"Yes!"
Michael ordered Thomas while looking at the blazing farm.
***
“Alright!”
Sejun opened his eyes and got up. His body felt so refreshed, maybe because he had slept well after a long time.
Squeak!
With the noise of Sejun getting up, the black rabbit came out of the wooden box house and greeted him.
"Yeah. Good morning."
Sejun got up and wrote on the bedroom wall with a stick.
[250]
It was the morning of the 250th day of being stranded. He planned to mark the date on the brick house wall in the future.
"Let's go out."
As Sejun and the black rabbit came out, one by one, the rabbits were coming up to the ground from the cave.
Squeak!
Squeak!
"Right. Good morning."
Sejun greeted the rabbits.
Breakfast was taken care of with SeP's soup, which had been boiling for 24 hours and steamed potatoes.
And when Sejun was walking to the field to harvest the cherry tomatoes,
Squeak!!!
Squeak!!!
From behind, the cheerful screams of the rabbits were heard, and they quickly overtook Sejun in their wooden boat.
Splash!
The boat ridden by the rabbits splashed water onto Sejun as it passed.
"Huh?!"
Is that... a flume ride²?!
As the field became too wide, the rabbits were using boats on the canal as transportation to reduce the effort to move to the field.
"I'm envious!"
I was so jealous, I wish I had a fun ride...no, I meant transportation!
Krueong?
Sejun wasn't the only one who was envious of the rabbits' means of transportation.
Krueong!
Cuengi shouted as he watched the rabbits riding in the wooden boat. I want to ride too!
Krueong!
Cuengi picked up a wooden plank and climbed up to the fountain in high spirits, placed the wooden plank on the water canal, and sat on it.
But
Creak.
The pillars of the canal, which were not designed with the possibility of Cuengi climbing up on them in mind, couldn't bear his weight.
Bang!
As soon as Cuengi sat down, the wooden pillars broke like twigs and a major accident occurred with the wooden pipe collapsing on the spot.
Krueong...
When Cuengi, who fell with the wooden pipes, was looking at the broken canal with a desolate expression
Pat.
"It's okay."
Sejun patted Cuengi's head and comforted him.
Krueong...
[I want to ride the boat too...]
"Don't worry. I'll give you a ride."
Thanks to Cuengi, Sejun got a chance to rebuild the canal.
"Guys, gather around!"
Sejun called the grey rabbit and the black minotaur and started a grand construction project to build a new, sturdy canal.
*****
TL Notes:
1) It refers to how people tend to neglect what is right under their nose. They are often too consumed by what is happening far away than concerned about what is right in front of them.
2) Flume Rides
*****
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