abcnovels
Chapter 20: Harvesting a New Variety
Chapter 20: Harvesting a New Variety
TL: Hanguk
On the 157th day of being trapped in the tower, morning.
“Listen up, everyone. The day has finally come.”
Sejun made a big announcement in front of the rabbits who were eagerly eating their morning carrots.
Beep?
Bweah?
Bwang?
The rabbits had no idea what Sejun was talking about, so they looked at him with wide eyes. What day is it?
“Today is the day we dig up sweet potatoes.”
It felt like just yesterday that they planted 450 sweet potato sprouts, but now the sprouts had grown roots and it was time to harvest the sweet potatoes.
Beep!!!
Bweah!!!
Bwang!!!
The rabbits were excited at the mention of sweet potatoes, recalling the taste of the roasted sweet potatoes they had eaten before.
And the best part was that they didn’t have to do anything. Sejun would be the one to harvest them all by himself.
However, the rabbits couldn’t remember what they had done before eating the roasted sweet potatoes.
“So, we will finish our work in the morning and plant sweet potato sprouts in the afternoon.”
Before digging up the sweet potatoes, Sejun had to remove all the sweet potato vines. He couldn’t just throw away the sweet potato sprouts that could produce sweet potatoes if planted.
Beep?!
Bweah?!
Bwang?!
The rabbits hurried to check the sweet potato field. The sweet potato sprouts had grown thickly in the field. Sejun’s plan to cut them all and plant them had surprised the rabbits.
But they were relieved. Both the harvesting and planting of sweet potato sprouts were Sejun’s responsibility.
However,
“There’s another big announcement. I’ve decided not to monopolize the joy of planting sweet potato sprouts today.”
As the field expanded, Sejun’s workload had exceeded what he could do in a day. So he decided to give up on increasing his seed sowing skill proficiency.
Farming is all about timing. He couldn’t ruin the farm just for the sake of skill proficiency.
Thus began the morning farming session.
Two rabbits with watering cans watered the field, while the wife rabbit and a rabbit with a sickle cut the sweet potato leaves. The rabbit with a cart carried the leaves away.
And the black rabbit and the rabbits with shovels prepared the furrows to plant the sweet potato sprouts.
wang!! wang!!
As everything progressed, the black rabbit, who considered all of this as warrior training, flattened the ground by dragging the flat part of the hammer along the ground.
Pook. Peuk.
Pook. Peuk.
Two rabbits with shovels dug trenches and piled up soil next to them.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
Sejun hurriedly harvested cherry tomatoes as well. To finish all the work in the morning, they had to move quickly.
With the morning farming session over,
“Phew.”
Beep…
Bweah…
Bwang…
Sejun and the rabbits were all exhausted from the intense labor. Their throats were parched, likely due to the sweating.
“At times like these, cool honey water is the best.”
Sejun poured honey stored in a bottle into a tumbler.
Gulp. Gulp.
He poured two tablespoons of honey into the tumbler and filled it with water from the pond.
And then,
Shake it, shake it.
He shook the tumbler to mix the honey well.
“Is it mixed well?”
Just as Sejun was about to take a sip of the honey water,
Bwang?!
The black rabbit called out to Sejun. Are you going to drink it alone?!
In the black rabbit’s hand was a carrot cup made by hollowing out the inside of a carrot. Who would have thought of making a cup out of a carrot… genius?!
Glug glug glug.
Se-jun poured honey water into the black rabbit’s carrot cup. In the meantime, he also poured honey water for the white rabbits who had followed the black rabbit’s lead and made carrot cups of their own.
About half of the honey water remained in the tumbler.
Gulp gulp.
Se-jun downed the honey water in one shot. As the sweet honey water entered his mouth, the sweetness awakened Se-jun’s brain cells, and the coolness that followed down his esophagus seemed to relieve the fatigue throughout his body.
“Wow!”
Phew!
The black rabbit also downed the honey water in its carrot cup in one shot, following Se-jun. Although it was called a cup, it was more like a large bowl for the black rabbit, but it managed to drink it all with both hands.
And then
Shake shake.
The black rabbit shook the bottom of the clean, finished carrot cup to get the last drop of remaining honey water.
‘Where did you learn that? Even my father doesn’t do that after drinking alcohol.’
Gulp gulp.
The rabbits finished their honey water and cleaned up the carrot cups that had traces of honey water. It was an eco-friendly cup.
After drinking the honey water and regaining his energy, Se-jun hurriedly ate lunch and began planting sweet potato shoots.
Today, they were more efficient at dividing the work.
As the wife rabbit and the rabbit with a sickle cut the sweet potato shoots, the rabbit with a cart and the black rabbit carried the sweet potato shoots, and the rest of the rabbits and Se-jun planted them.
There were a tremendous number of sweet potato shoots, but since they had many hands, they finished planting them all in just a few hours.
“It’s done!”
A field of 1,500 sweet potato shoots was completed.
[You’ve created a 150-sq-meter sweet potato field.] (see TL note below for change of measurement)
[You’ve gained 150 experience points.]
[You’ve leveled up.]
[You’ve acquired 1 bonus stat.]
Se-jun found out some good information. Even if he didn’t plant the crops himself, he could still get the full experience points for creating a field.
He had raised his strength stat by 1 at level 11, so this time, he raised his stamina stat by 1.
And then
“Now, let’s go dig up the sweet potatoes!”
Finally, the highlight of the day, the sweet potato harvest, began. When they pulled out the sweet potato vines, about 270 out of the 450 planted sweet potato shoots had grown successfully.
Thump thump.
Rabbits with shovels pushed the shovels deep into the soil, lifted the ground briefly, then removed the shovels and moved on, and Se-jun dug up the sweet potatoes.
He had tried to do this with the rabbits as well, but since the size of the sweet potatoes was as big as the rabbits, Se-jun ended up having to dig them up alone.
Thud thud.
When he was lucky, he could pull out a stem and get 10 sweet potatoes at once.
[You’ve harvested a Power Sweet Potato.]
[Your job experience increases very slightly.]
[Your Harvesting Lv. 2 proficiency increases very slightly.]
[You’ve gained 10 experience points.]
…
..
.
“What a great feeling!”
Se-jun had a proud expression on his face when he saw the ten sweet potatoes he harvested all at once.
Beep~
Vveahh~
Bing! Bing!
The rabbits were humming as they wrapped sweet potatoes in leaves to make roasted sweet potatoes.
[The tower administrator is shouting, “Roasted sweet potatoes! Roasted sweet potatoes!” excitedly.]
Se-jun continued to harvest sweet potatoes on his own. Next to him, there was a stack of sweet potatoes he harvested, approximately 3,000 of them. He harvested about 10-13 sweet potatoes per stem.
When the harvest was almost over,
“Huh?!”
A golden light emerged from the soil. Se-jun hurriedly dug up the glowing object.
Sparkle.
The light was so bright that it hurt his eyes.
“Wow!”
Se-jun quickly shielded his eyes from the bright light with his hand.
[You have harvested Golden Sweet Potato.]
[Your job experience increases very slightly.]
[Your Harvesting Lv. 2 proficiency increases very slightly.]
[You have gained 10 experience points.]
A humble message compared to the dramatic appearance.
Then,
[You have achieved the achievement of creating a new variety in the tower.]
[The tower acknowledges your exclusive cultivation rights to the new variety.]
[No one can cultivate the Golden Sweet Potato without your permission.]
[Your job experience increases greatly.]
[Your job experience is now full.]
[Your Tower Farmer (E) rank increases.]
[You have become a Tower Farmer (D).]
[Your job rank has increased, and your job traits have been enhanced.]
[Your Harvesting Lv. 2 proficiency increases greatly.]
[Your Harvesting Lv. 2 proficiency is now full, and the level has increased.]
Whether it was because of the new variety, his job rank and skill level increased at once. Se-jun quickly checked the options for the golden sweet potato.
[Golden Sweet Potato]
A mutant sweet potato that has absorbed sunlight within the tower, containing the energy of the sun.
It is delicious, having grown in the tower and absorbed enough nutrients.
When consumed, it breaks down 100g of body fat and increases fire resistance for 1 hour.
When non-Awakened individuals consume it, 100g of body fat is broken down and their resistance to cold increases for 24 hours.
Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun
Shelf life: 30 days
Grade: E
“A new variety…”
Se-jun looked at the golden sweet potato in his hand.
Being a new variety meant that he was the only one in the tower with this sweet potato. Moreover, he was given exclusive cultivation rights so that even if Se-jun harvested and sold the sweet potatoes, no one else could grow the Golden Sweet Potato.
“I must grow this.”
Although Se-jun was curious about the taste of the Golden Sweet Potato, he decided to plant it first and increase the harvest.
“Grow up quickly.”
Se-jun carefully planted the Golden Sweet Potato and watered it until the soil was soaked.
At that moment,
Bing!
The black rabbit called Se-jun urgently. It smells burnt!
The rabbits became anxious as the smell of burning began.
“Okay, let’s go!”
The rabbits stared at the sweet potatoes in the fire with eager eyes as Se-jun approached the bonfire.
However, the smell hadn’t fully ripened yet. Se-jun watched the sweet potatoes and waited for the right timing.
‘Now!’
Se-jun took the roasted sweet potatoes out of the fire.
[The tower administrator wipes his drool and waits for his turn.]
“Here, 10 roasted sweet potatoes.”
There were many roasted sweet potato, so Sejun gave 10 of them to the tower administrator.
[The tower administrator gratefully says that they will enjoy eating them.]
“Alright, let’s eat too.”
Sejun unwrapped the sweet potato and peeled the skin off, giving it to the rabbits.
Hoo-hoo-hoo.
Hoo-hoo-hoo.
Poo-hoo.
The rabbits blew on the roasted sweet potatoes to cool them down.
Then, the rabbits began to eat the roasted sweet potatoes.
Peek!
Bwaap!
Bbang!
The rabbits cheered in delight from the sweetness of the roasted sweet potatoes.
Waap.
Sejun also took a bite of the roasted sweet potato.
“Ah, it’s delicious. I wonder if Theo is doing well?”
By now, Theo should have arrived at the 38th floor.
***
As Sejun had expected, the diligent Theo had descended the tower and arrived at the 38th floor.
“Oh?! He’s here!”
“Is that the cat?!
The Phoenix Guild hunters who discovered Theo ran over. But the number of hunters had doubled since before.
A few of Kim Dong-sik’s party members had spread rumors about the magical cherry tomatoes, causing the increase. The miraculous cherry tomatoes that made you lose weight just by eating them attracted the hunters’ curiosity.
“I’ll buy them all!”
A hunter who couldn’t buy last time shouted.
“It’s not allowed, meow! We changed the way we sell them starting today, meow.”
Theo had received new instructions from Sejun.
“Starting today, we’ll sell 500 cherry tomatoes to the person who offers the highest price, meow!”
It was like an auction for the magical cherry tomatoes.
“40 tower coins for 500!”
As soon as Theo finished speaking, Kim Dong-sik shouted. 0.08 tower coins per cherry tomato. Kim Dong-sik, whose position at home had risen due to the magical cherry tomatoes, couldn’t give them up.
However,
“41 tower coins!”
Other hunters who couldn’t buy last time immediately raised the price.
“45 tower coins!”
“45.5 tower coins!”
Other hunters who had come to watch also joined in, raising the price.
At that moment,
“100 tower coins!”
Chris shouted an enormous amount. 0.2 tower coins per cherry tomato. He was buying 500 cherry tomatoes for 200,000 won each.
Chris had bought 30 magical cherry tomatoes in the first transaction and given them to his sister, Jenna, who was a pharmaceutical company CEO.
He thought of her complaining about gaining weight from sitting all day. Jenna tried a few cherry tomatoes and was amazed by their effects, so she started researching the magical cherry tomatoes.
However, she kept failing to extract the ingredients and asked Chris for more magical cherry tomatoes.
‘She said she’d pay for it.’
So, without any burden, Chris spent a total of 273 tower coins to buy all 1,500 magical cherry tomatoes.
When the auction ended, female hunters approached.
“Theo, can we take a picture with you?”
“It’s okay, meow. But give me coffee, meow.”
“Coffee?”
The female hunters, who had brought lots of Churu (a cat treat), were confused.
“Wait a minute. Max, give me some coffee!”
The female hunters snatched coffee from their companions.
“Or even spices like pepper are okay, meow. If you want to take a picture with me, show me your sincerity, meow.”
Theo was becoming more and more like a merchant cat out of his ambition to become a representative.
*****
1. I am changing the unit of measurement from pyeong to square meters for better readability for international readers. While the exact conversion would be approximately 3.3 square meters per pyeong, I will be using square meters directly. If anyone has any issues or a better approach, please let me know in the comments.
Good Night!!