Chapter 99: The Harvest Festival Begins (1)
TL: Hanguk
[An additional blessing of mana is bestowed on the entire floor where the Red Ribbon's Giant Carrot Altar is located.]
Thud. Thud.
As soon as the notification ended, the giant carrot altar rose towards the sky. Green and blue lights exploded continuously around it, spreading light across the entire floor.
And then, suddenly, 1,000 rabbits appeared under the giant carrot altar.
Squeak...?
Squeak...?
Squeal?
When the 1,000 rabbits, suddenly summoned, were looking around in confusion,
Pi Ppi!
Squeak!
Squeal!
Squeak!
The rabbits from the 99th floor cheered as they saw the summoned rabbits.
But the cheering did not last long. The state of the summoned rabbits was too poor. They were so skinny that it looked like they were malnourished, and they even had patches of hair loss here and there.
"For now, eat this."
Sejun took out fresh carrots harvested a few hours ago from the void storage and handed them to the summoned rabbits.
Squeak?!
Squeak?!
Squeal?!
The rabbits were surprised when they saw the carrots. They burst into tears at the sight of carrots after decades, and the rabbits on the 99th floor comforted them. They seemed to have suffered for a long time.
A while later,
Squeak?
Squeak?
The rabbits began to ask each other how they'd been.
"Let's go home."
"Alright, meow!"
Kreong!
Sejun went home with Theo and Cuengi. He did this so he could prepare carrot soup for the rabbits to eat while they were talking.
When he arrived home, Sejun went to the kitchen, put the ingredients in a large pot, and checked his newly acquired skill while waiting for the soup to be ready.
[Job Skill - Crop Gigantification Lv. 1]
→ Forces the power of C grade or lower crops to focus on growth, making them gigantic.
→ The degree of Gigantification varies according to the grade of the crop. (C grade x5, D grade x3, E grade x2, F grade x1.2)
"Hmm."
It seemed like a good skill to use when giving crops to Aileen or the mother Crimson Giant Bear.
Naturally, if they're bigger, they can appreciate the taste more fully. Or maybe when there's a shortage of food?
Sejun then checked the blessings. Things like the Blessings or Buffs like Flamie's buffs are displayed next to the name in the status window.
[Park Sejun Lv. 50 - Blessing of Abundance, Blessing of Mana]
When Sejun clicked on the Blessing of Abundance, information about the Blessing of Abundance appeared.
[Blessing of Abundance - Remaining Time: 6 Days 23 Hours]
→ The blessing is bestowed only upon beings permitted by Park Sejun, the tower farmer and host of the harvest festival.
→ During the harvest festival, the 99th floor of the tower becomes more prosperous.
→ The growth speed of crops increases.
→ If engaging in reproductive activities, the chance of conceiving a new life increases.
"Hmm."
Increasing the growth speed of the crops is certainly a welcome development, but an increased chance of conceiving new life if engaged in reproductive activities...
"Should I sleep somewhere else for a while?"
The cave seemed likely to get noisy because of the rabbits.
Sejun then checked the Blessing of Mana.
[Blessing of Mana - Remaining time: 6 days 23 hours]
→ The blessing is bestowed only upon beings permitted by Park Sejun, the tower farmer and host of the harvest festival.
→ During the harvest festival, the concentration of mana on the 99th floor of the tower increases.
→ Mana recovery speed is accelerated.
→ The power of mana increases.
"Hmm."
The Blessing of Mana didn't have much to do with Sejun, although it might be useful for other animals like Iona. It would probably enhance the effects of creating thunderclouds and rainfall, but that wasn't very useful.
'Should I make a bigger pit to prevent the fire ants from crossing over?'
While Sejun was contemplating how to use the Blessing of Mana effectively,
Pi Ppi!
Squeak!
Squeak!
Squeal!
The rabbits arrived in droves, lined up neatly in front of Sejun, and the serving began. However, there were so many rabbits that there weren't enough bowls to serve the soup.
"Theo and Cuengi, make some bowls."
"Got it, meow!"
Kreong!
At Sejun's command, Theo cut the wood to the right sizes, and Cuengi hollowed out the inside of the wood as if scooping out ice cream.
Then, the three gray rabbits from the 99th floor and the summoned gray rabbits smoothed out the rough parts inside the bowls by sanding, quickly producing bowls to serve the soup.
Thanks to this, the thousand rabbits each had their own bowls and enjoyed their meal comfortably.
After the meal was over,
"Now, let's have dessert!"
Sejun washed the remaining strawberries he had left after offering to the giant carrot altar.
"Wow!"
As soon as he brought the strawberry close to his mouth, the strong smell of the strawberry shook Sejun's heart.
Slurp.
Eventually unable to resist the temptation, Sejun took a bite of the strawberry. The unique flavor of strawberries, along with a sugary sweetness, filled his mouth.
[You have consumed a Lucky Strawberry.]
[Your luck increases for 1 hour.]
"Luck?"
Sejun had not checked the options in anticipation of eating the strawberries. He belatedly checked the options.
[Lucky Strawberry]
→ A strawberry grown in the tower. It's delicious and full of nutrients.
→ Grown by a farmer familiar with farming, improving its taste and efficiency.
→ When consumed, luck increases for 1 hour.
→ Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Expiration date: 90 days
→ Grade: C
'How is it good if luck increases?'
The options were too ambiguous. Sejun decided to be satisfied with just eating a delicious strawberry.
While he was thinking about it, he also checked the Cheongyang peppers in his storage space.
[Calming Cheongyang Pepper]
→ A Cheongyang pepper grown in the tower, It’s delicious and full of nutrients.
→ Grown by a farmer familiar with farming, improving its taste and efficiency.
→ When consumed, your mind becomes calm for 1 hour.
→ Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Expiration date: 90 days
→ Grade: C
"Mind becomes calm? This is also vague."
Slurp.
Kreong!
Sejun, washing and sneakily eating strawberries, was caught by Cuengi.
And Sejun put five strawberries into Cuengi's mouth, making him an accomplice.
"Now. You've eaten too. We're accomplices. You can't tell the other, okay?"
Kreong!
Cuengi nodded in response to Sejun's words. Fortunately, due to making Cuengi an accomplice, they weren't caught by the rabbits for eating the strawberries in advance.
The next morning.
"Alright."
As soon as Sejun opened his eyes and got up,
"Let's sleep some more, meow."
Theo clung to Sejun's knees and whined to sleep more. However, he was ignored.
then,
"Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot-Good morning, Sejun!"
Iona, who had been sleeping on Sejun's knee, stretching with a yawn, greeted Sejun cheerfully.
"Yeah. Good morning."
Swoosh.
Sejun responded to Iona's greeting and added a line on the wall, starting the morning of the 265th day.
"Uh!"
As Sejun stretched and came out,
"Huh?!"
He saw buildings that he hadn't seen before under the giant carrot altar in the distance. And animals were wandering around there.
"What's this?"
"Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot, It's the market of the raccoon tribe that only comes during the harvest festival! Let's hurry and take a look!"
"Really?!"
Excited by Iona's words, Sejun hurried towards the market, where he saw five street vendors. The smell of delicious food stimulated Sejun's nose as he approached, indicating that these were food stalls.
then,
"Hey! You've already had ten tastings. That's already two servings."
Kreong!
Cuengi was seen making a fuss in front of the food stall for more food.
'Cuengi, I feed you until you're full every day, but if you behave like this here? People will think I'm starving you.'
"Ahem. Cuengi."
Sejun called Cuengi with an embarrassed face.
Kreong! Kreong!
Seeing Sejun's arrival, Cuengi was overjoyed as if he'd won the lottery. My dad is here! He's rich.
"Oh! Is this your father? Come on, eat more!"
The stall owner started giving Cuengi more food when he saw Sejun, the one who would pay.
And
"Huh?!"
Thud.
Seeing the white, bouncy food handed to Cuengi by the stall owner, Sejun reached out and grabbed it without realizing it.
Silence.
The texture was the same as what he knew.
"Rice cake..."
Examining the shiny white rice cake in his hand. Sejun, filled with emotion, put the rice cake into his mouth.
Chew.
"Uhmm."
It had exactly the texture he was expecting. And as he chewed, the perfect taste of rice spread out.
Kreong!
Cuengi also received a new cake from the stall owner and ate it deliciously. Just when Cuengi had finished eating 20 rice cakes in just 2 minutes,
Click.
He heard the sound of opening a glass bottle next to him.
Kreong?
Cuengi, who had associated the sound of opening a glass bottle with eating honey, turned his head.
Plop.
Sejun was seen dipping rice cake in honey and eating it.
Kreong!
Cuengi also dipped a rice cake in honey following Sejun and put it in his mouth.
Kreong!!!
The rice cake became a completely new dish just by dipping it in honey.
And then
"I'll buy all the rice cakes!"
Sejun bought all the rice cakes from the stall.
"Give me a discount, meow!"
After leaving the haggling to Theo, Sejun started looking around at other stalls.
"Wow!"
Sejun marveled at the food sold at the stalls. The other three stalls were selling rye bread, beer, and cheese.
"I'll buy everything!"
Sejun bought all the items from the four stalls, forcing them to close early. He then went to the last stall, which had nothing on display.
"What do you sell here?"
"We sell seeds. Take a look."
The elderly raccoon merchant carefully pulled out a single seed.
'Just one?'
Sejun examined the seed.
[Five-colored Bean Seed]
"How much is it?"
"It's 10,000 Tower Coins."
It was too expensive for a single seed. But despite thinking it was expensive, Sejun kept looking at the five-colored bean seed.
'I want it.'
Sejun's instincts were drawn to the five-colored bean seed.
then,
"President Park, I've bought everything, meow!"
Theo, having finished the transactions, returned proudly to Sejun's lap.
"Theo, what do you think? Are you attracted to it?"
Sejun held Theo up and pointed to the five-colored bean seed. Theo's golden front paw was a reliable detector.
"Meow! I'm strongly attracted to it, meow!"
"Really?!"
At Theo's words, Sejun decided to buy the five-colored bean seed.
"How much did you say it was?"
"10,000 Tower Coins."
"Well... Look here, there's a scratch on the seed. Can you lower the price a bit?"
"That's not really important."
"Then what about this? Isn't the size too small for a bean?"
Sejun tried all sorts of excuses to haggle the price down, but the elderly raccoon was resolute.
And suddenly, the animals and other raccoons gathered to watch the haggling between Sejun and the elderly raccoon. Sejun and the elderly raccoon stared each other down.
'Theo is watching! I have to get a discount!'
'I can't give a discount! My subordinates are watching!'
Now, with everyone watching, it had become a matter of their pride as leaders.
Just then,
-You rascals! You should invite me when you have a harvest festival!
The black dragon statue flew over, making a fuss.
[The Tower's Administrator says she wants to enjoy the harvest festival, too.]
"Hold on a second."
Sejun sent over some rice cake, rye bread, and cheese he had bought from the food stalls with honey.
"Make sure to dip the rice cake in honey. It's really delicious. Got it?"
[The Tower's Administrator says she understands.]
As Sejun was explaining the delicious combination to Aileen,
Boom!
-Bring out the liquor!
"Er... well..."
Kaiser was bullying the stall owner selling makgeolli (Korean alcoholic beverage). The raccoon was trembling in fear from the black dragon's energy emanating from the statue and could not muster the courage to say they had run out of alcohol.
"Mr. Kaiser, the liquor is here."
Sejun handed Kaiser an entire barrel of makgeolli.
- Hmph! I didn't particularly want to drink, but I'll drink out of respect for your sincerity.
Didn't you just bully the stall owner to bring out the alcohol?
Reading Sejun's gaze,
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
- Hmph!
Flap, flap.
Kaiser quickly poured all the alcohol into his mouth and flew back to the fountain.
"Thank you for saving me!"
The elderly raccoon approached Sejun to express his gratitude. Just the fact that he could speak properly in front of the Black Dragon made Sejun seem amazing.
"If you're thankful, cut the price to 5,000 Tower Coins."
'As expected, President Park is amazing, meow!'
Theo was greatly impressed seeing Sejun taking advantage of the opponent's crisis to slash the price.
*****
*****
For extra chapters, you can read them on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/HangukTranslations.
Join our Discord for announcements or to report any mistakes.