Part 2 Chapter 122: Who Cares Anyway! / 846
TL: Hanguk
17 years ago.
“Ah... hello. My name is Marcel.”
“Hohoho. Nice to meet you. I’m Ute. A novice wizard for a thousand years.”
“Wow. You’ve been training in magic for a thousand years?! Ute-nim, that’s amazing!”
When Marcel first entered the Wizard’s Association, he was a pure child full of passion for magic. He didn’t disregard Ute and came to see him every day to talk and play together.
But then
“Grandpa Ute... sniffle....”
“Marcel, what’s wrong?”
“I got... sniffle... scolded by my dad. He said if I don’t get first place, I shouldn’t even come home....”
Crushed by the excessive expectations of his family, Marcel’s pure passion for magic turned into an obsession with grades.
As academic performance became the top priority, he naturally began to distance himself from Ute. No, he began to hate him.
Because every time he saw Ute, he felt guilty. And he was angry at himself for feeling that way.
Marcel ignored his own feelings and threw himself into studying.
However
“Marcel, only fifth place? I’m ashamed to call you my son.”
Not everything in the world could be achieved through hard work alone. Especially in fields like magic, which required talent all the more.
I can’t do it...
Realizing he couldn't meet his parents' expectations, Marcel became frustrated and started to go astray.
***
"I'm sorry. I interfered with Ute-nim's magic power and tried to make it go berserk. I will accept any punishment."
Marcel kneeled down and apologized.
“Sejun-nim, Marcel has committed a grave sin, but please give him just one more chance to become a great wizard.”
Ute, who had sought out Marcel and persuaded him to turn himself in, also bowed his head.
“Master Ute, please raise your head. If you’re saying this much... I’ll give him a chance. However....”
"Since the crime is serious, he needs to be stamped, meow!"
Stamp.
Cutting off Sejun’s words, Theo stamped Marcel's head.
And then
Puhuhut. I, Vice Chairman Theo, have said what Chairman Park was going to say! Did I do well, meow?!
Theo looked at Sejun with sparkling eyes. His proud expression seemed like he was waiting for praise.
However
“That’s not what I was going to say.”
“Meow?! It wasn’t, meow?!”
Stamping wasn’t what Sejun had intended.
“Fine. As a sign of remorse, I order Marcel to change his name for 10 years. His new name will be Ugugamsal.”
Since Ute saved him, it meant he should live with gratitude. (TL Note: Combining Korean of 'Ute' + Korean of 'live with gratitude' we get Ugugamsal)
And when Sejun changed the name
[The name of Marcel, a low-level wizard of the Black Tower Wizard’s Association, will be changed to Ugugamsal for 10 years.]
[The effect of <Power: Namer> has been activated.]
[The name Ugugamsal has been imbued with a special effect.]
[When receiving guidance from Ute, an honorary advisor of the Black Tower Wizard’s Association, magic control ability will grow twice as fast.]
[When together with Ute, an honorary advisor of the Black Tower Wizard’s Association, magic comprehension will grow twice as fast.]
The effects from naming appeared.
“Huh?”
This isn’t a punishment!
As Sejun became flustered after the name change
“Ah. Sejun-nim, thank you! To give someone like me who committed a crime such grace....”
Marcel, no, Ugugamsal, looked at Sejun with a deeply moved expression.
“Puhuhut. Be grateful for the generosity of our Chairman Park, meow!”
Theo immediately took credit.
In this way, Sejun became the one who bestowed a surname upon Marcel Ugugamsal, who would later succeed Blackster, who had served as the chairman of the Wizard’s Association for 50 years.
But that was still a very distant future.
“Guys, let’s go.”
"Puhuhut. Sounds good, meow!"
Sejun returned home with his companions.
***
A few days had passed since they returned from the Wizard’s Association.
During that time, Sejun used the land deeds obtained from the mimic and traversed the nine great towers with his companionss, increasing his shares in the towers.
While Sejun and his companions were busy moving around
"Kids, since we've eaten, let's go plant seeds."
“Yes!! Director!”
Aileen fed the Children of Destruction and went to the 9th floor of the 10th Tower to plant trees.
Thanks to her hard work, she had successfully grown 10 Dimensional Trees each on the 7th and 8th floors, 8 Dimensional Trees on the 9th floor, and 100 World Trees on each floor from the 1st to the 9th.
“Okay. Let’s plant 10 more and go home to sleep!”
“Yes!!”
The children lined up in an orderly manner in front of Aileen to receive seeds.
They needed the Dimensional Tree to sprout quickly to fulfill the growth conditions of the 10th Tower.
As Aileen handed out seeds to the children, she thought. That way, the gap in power between her and Sejun would shrink.
Just as Sejun was working hard for their date, Aileen was also putting in effort for their date.
As the children received seeds from Aileen and planted them in the ground.
Rumble.
The ground rumbled and a Dimensional Tree sprouted.
"Gomgom, success!"
“Mulmul also grew a Dimensional Tree!”
“The eggplant Nene planted turned into a Dimensional Tree too!”
Three of them, at that.
“You kids have grown up?”
Before they knew it, Gomgom, Mulmul, and Nene were enveloped in a radiant light.
“Yes!!”
Srrrk.
The energy of Destruction completely vanished from their bodies as they awakened as [Children of Creation].
At that moment.
Rumble.
The ground rumbled once again. No, this time the entire 10th Tower shook.
[All growth conditions of the 10th Tower have been fulfilled.]
[The 10th Tower is evolving into the 10th Great Tower.]
[Anyone who is not affiliated with the 10th Tower, please leave.]
The 10th Tower began its transformation into a Great Tower.
"How?"
There shouldn’t be anything on the 10th floor yet?
“Kids, let’s go home now and sleep.”
“Yes!!”
Aileen quickly took the children to the Kindergarten of Destruction to let them nap, then moved alone to the 10th floor of the 10th Tower.
And there.
[Hehe. Aileen-nim, sorry. You were surprised, right?]
Contrary to the words, Flamie wore a proud expression.
“Flamie, what happened?”
[Hehe. I moved my roots to the 10th floor of the 10th Tower, and that fulfilled the condition for the 10th floor.]
Originally, it required 100 World Trees and 10 Trees of Creation, but after Flamie rooted herself on the 10th floor.
[Eok-Samchiri, you can do it, right?]
“Yes! I’ll try!”
She pushed Eok-Samchiri to meet the conditions. Of course, since Sejun might find out, the plan was to pretend it was all thanks to Wandubaek.
“Really?! Flamie, great job!”
[Hehe. Now Sejun-nim will get a bit stronger.]
While Aileen and Flamie were rejoicing.
[A quest has occurred.]
Quest: The Flame Grape Farm on the 76th floor of the Red Tower is suffering major damage due to fireflies. Eliminate the fireflies and restore the Flame Grape Farm to normal.
Reward: Official recognition as the rightful owner of the Flame Grape Farm on the 76th floor of the Red Tower.
“Guys, we have to take care of some fireflies.”
“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Leave it to us.”
Kueng!
Kking!
“Hyap!”
Sejun and his party, who were carrying out the Land Deed Quest on the 76th floor of the Red Tower, were busy catching fireflies.
“Meow-meow-meow! Meow-meow-meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Power of ice and wind... Blizzard.”
Kueng!
Of course, 97% of the fireflies were caught by Theo, Iona, and Cuengi. The remaining 3% were caught by Sejun, Blackie, and Taecho.
And.
“Hehehe. Blackie, Taecho, so you think you can beat me?”
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Great Blackie can catch more than butler! Go, everyone!]
“Taecho won’t lose either!”
The competition within the 3% was fairly intense.
While they were enthusiastically catching fireflies.
[Teacher Park Sejun of the Kindergarten of Destruction has enlightened [Children of Creation tainted by Destruction] Gomgom, Mulmul, and Nene and guided them to the right path.]
[The energy of Destruction has vanished from Gomgom, Mulmul, and Nene.]
[Gomgom, Mulmul, and Nene have awakened as [Children of Creation].]
A message appeared before Sejun.
[As a reward for awakening 3 [Children of Creation], your lifespan has increased by 300 years.]
[As a reward for awakening 3 [Children of Creation], you have acquired 3 trillion Tower Coins.]
[As a reward for awakening 3 [Children of Creation], <Earth (Lv. 7)> has gained 6% evolution experience.]
Following that, reward messages also appeared.
But that wasn’t the end.
[All growth conditions of the 10th Great Tower have been fulfilled.]
...
..
.
And finally, the message for the growth of the 10th Great Tower.
[As the 10th Tower grows into the 10th Great Tower, all stats of the Tower Lord are amplified by 1.5 times.]
Thanks to that, all of Sejun's stats increased by 1.5 times.
“Huh?!”
Sejun could feel his energy rising. In particular, the increase in his highest stat, Magic Power, was the most distinctly felt.
And then.
[You have achieved 800,000 Magic Power.]
[You have achieved 900,000 Magic Power.]
[You have achieved 1,000,000 Magic Power.]
[You have passed the 6th to 8th trials to become the Great Colorless Dragon all at once.]
[As a reward for passing the trials, you have inherited 0.03% of the power of the Great Colorless Dragon.]
The messages confirming trial completion proved Sejun's sensation to be real.
At that moment.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
The suddenly increased magic power began to run amok. The energy surged violently under his skin, making Sejun’s skin ripple and bulge.
I have to direct the magic power along the path I want!
Sejun desperately recalled what he learned from Ute and began controlling his magic power, directing it toward his magic hearts.
Guiding the rampaging energy to the first magic heart was the hardest. However, with each heart it passed through, control became a bit easier.
That was because the magic hearts gradually absorbed some of the magic power.
After a while.
Once all eight magic hearts were passed through,
Phew. It's done.
The worst had been avoided.
Controlling the magic power became significantly easier. Most of the magic power now flowed toward the eight magic hearts on its own. Because it had gained momentum.
For reference, Sejun had consistently consumed two Divine Elixir: Pea of Great Magic Power daily for over a month, and the Talent: Quad Magic Heart had evolved into Octa Magic Heart.
As Sejun, having finally controlled the rampaging magic power, opened his eyes.
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, to control runaway magic power on your own, how excellent, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Sejun-nim, you’ve grown. Congratulations!”
Kueng! Kueng!
[Dad, well done! Cuengi is happy because Dad did great!]
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Butler! Good job! But you know it was all thanks to great Blackie, right? Give me roasted and dried sweet potato!]
“Heehee. Daddy, you've improved, so Taecho is happy!”
Before he knew it, Sejun’s companions were surrounding him, looking on with proud eyes.
What is this feeling?
Sejun felt a bit strange. Normally, these things were natural for them, but when he did it, they praised him like this. It felt like adults praising a baby for taking their first steps.
Who cares anyway!
“Hehehe. I guess I really have improved.”
Sejun seized the moment to act as proud as he wanted.
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, your face looks rotten, meow! Everyone, step on him, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Yes.”
Kueng!
Kking!
“Heehee. Daddy, move your face closer!”
He was thoroughly stepped on by his companions.
And then.
“Finally, I can ask.”
Until now, Sejun had been too weak to directly converse with the Creator God, but now the Creator God was preparing to visit Sejun. He wanted to ask why Sejun hadn’t named the child Cervantes, as he had requested.
Unaware that he was being misunderstood as a ding-dong ditcher.