abcnovels
Chapter 368: Just the Right Prey
Chapter 368: Just the Right Prey
Chapter 368: Just the Right Prey
TL: Hanguk
“Alright!”
Sejun opened his eyes on the bed.
“…It took longer this time.”
He said, looking at his own knees. It felt empty without Theo.
But habit is a scary thing, so Sejun got up as usual and added another mark on the wall to indicate antoher day’s passing. It was the morning of day 384 in the tower.
As Sejun moved,
Ppyak…
“Hyung…”
Kking…
Awakened by the noise, Black Rabbit, Ajax, and Fenrir followed Sejun with sleepy eyes.
As Sejun stood in front of the house basking in the warm sun, the three lined up beside him.
“Yawn!”
Ppiyak!
“Ahhh!”
Kwiing!
Together, they all stretched lazily together.
For reference, Ajax had fallen asleep after eating rice balls (TL: Gyeongdan) with Sejun and taking a hot bath in the bathhouse the previous day.
While the four were stretching,
Kueng!
Cuengi also appeared, stretching.
Having gathered, the five dispersed to each attend to their own tasks.
Sejun went to the cooking area to prepare breakfast, while Black Rabbit, Cuengi, and Ajax harvested crops until breakfast was ready.
Kyihihit. Kking?
‘Hehe. Is my secret storeroom okay?’
Fenrir headed to the Creator God’s Tablet to check his secret storeroom.
But,
Kking?!
‘Who is it again?!’
There were signs that someone had tampered with his secret storeroom.
“Did that bear come again?”
Fenrir thought Cuengi had visited again and, expecting an increased stash of snacks, dug eagerly.
And as Fenrir expected, the amount of snacks inside the secret storeroom had increased.
However, it wasn’t Cuengi’s doing. The type of snacks was different. The storeroom was filled with carrots and cherry tomatoes.
Kking?
‘Who could it be?’
As Fenrir looked around to find the culprit,
Ppyak!
Black Rabbit gave Fenrir a thumbs up.
Having a keen ear, Black Rabbit knew about Fenrir’s secret storeroom and had filled it with his favorite snacks.
Thanks to the kind older brother taking care of the youngest’s snacks, Fenrir was able to fill his belly with snacks before breakfast,
Kking! Kking!
‘I want some too! Give it to me!’
“No. How are you going to eat this with that belly? Eat later.”
Instead, Fenrir couldn’t eat the freshly baked warm pancakes for breakfast.
Kking…
Watching the pancakes cool, Fenrir decided to eat only a little snack before meals from then on and fell asleep.
After finishing breakfast, Sejun took his group to the pineapple field.
Ordinary pineapples could be harvested by Sejun alone, but today, they also needed to harvest the screaming pineapples.
Now stronger, Sejun could sufficiently withstand the screams of the screaming pineapples.
However, it was hard for Sejun alone to create a ‘Suppressed Screaming Pineapple’ as his strength wasn’t enough to keep the screams contained.
If they weren’t going to eat them all today, post-processing was necessary. That’s why he brought his strong companions along.
“Then, let’s cut.”
Sejun and Ajax, who needed to raise their farming skills, harvested the screaming pineapples.
Ppyak!
Kueng!
Black Rabbit and Cuengi pressed down on the harvested pineapples to prevent them from screaming.
Thus, the ‘Suppressed Screaming Pineapple’ harvested in pairs were piled up in one corner of the field.
After the harvest,
“Should we try one?”
Sejun grabbed a pineapple and cut it in half.
Screeeeech!!!
The screaming pineapple let out a scream accompanied by a shockwave.
“Ugh. My ears are ringing.”
Is there a way to eat this quietly? It tastes good, but it was too noisy.
So he suggested to the black rabbit, Cuengi, and Ajax that he would give them a golden spoon as a reward if they could find a way to eat quietly.
If they gave the golden spoon to Sejun, they could ask him to make any dish they wanted.
“Then, go and research it.”
Sejun told the three and went to harvest ordinary pineapples.
While Sejun was harvesting pineapples,
“Hyung! I found it!”
Ajax came to Sejun and cut a pineapple with a silence magic spell on it.
The pineapple split quietly without any noise.
However,
Thump.
The shockwave remained the same.
“The shockwave is still there, so it’s a fail.”
“Euing…”
Disappointed from failing, Ajax turned back.
Ppyak!
[Uncle, I found a way too!]
Black Rabbit came running confidently.
Then, after digging deep into the ground and burying the pineapple,
Ppop!
He struck the ground with a hammer. It was an advanced technique that precisely manipulated magic to impact only the pineapple.
Gugung.
The impacted pineapple exploded, causing the ground to tremble slightly.
As the trembling ceased, Black Rabbit dug into the ground and emerged with the pineapple split in half.
There was a bit of vibration and the method was quite cumbersome, but it was relatively quiet.
“Let’s put it on hold for now.”
So, they decided to see Cuengi’s method before making a final decision.
Then,
Kueng! Kueng!
[Dad, Cuengi won! The golden spoon is Cuengi’s!]
Cuengi, looking confident, handed Sejun the pineapple he held in his front paws.
[A Pineapple that Became Delicious After Being Firmly Silenced Three Times]“Huh? The name is different?”
The pineapple Cuengi held had a different name from the others. Just from the name, it was clear what Cuengi had done.
‘He just suppressed it with strength until it quieted down.’
Still, it was effective as the name changed from ‘screaming’ to ‘became delicious.’
“Let’s see.”
Sejun checked the options of the pineapple.
[A Pineapple that Became Delicious After Being Firmly Silenced Three Times]? A pineapple grown inside the tower that has absorbed plenty of nutrients and is tasty.
? The magic power that failed to explode three times lost its explosive nature and was absorbed into the pineapple’s flesh, making it tastier.
? Consuming it increases magic power by 5.
? There is a low chance of awakening the talent: Endure Three Times upon consumption.
? Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
? Shelf Life: 150 days
? Grade: A
“Wow.”
He could only express his amazement. So, it was possible… The screams had been sublimated into taste, stats, and talent.
“Cuengi, you pass.”
Sejun handed the golden spoon to Cuengi.
Then,
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Cuengi wants to eat a bellyful of rice noodles!]
Cuengi immediately handed the golden spoon to Sejun, asking for the food he wanted to eat.
“You… want to eat rice noodles until you are full?”
Sejun stuttered at Cuengi’s request.
‘How much do I need to make if Cuengi wants to eat his fill?’
Cuengi’s eating quantity had decreased recently, but it was definitely not because he was full. He was restraining himself because he knew Sejun would struggle if he ate a lot.
It was hard to imagine how much he could eat if he said he wanted to eat his fill. And didn’t he see Cuengi recently drinking an entire lake of milk?
But he understood. How much Cuengi must have wanted to eat his fill if he used the golden spoon as soon as he got it.
“Cuengi, just trust Daddy! You don’t need to do anything today. Just eat!”
If my son wants to eat, I can at least do that much!
Fortunately, it was a soup dish.
Sejun, with a determined expression, took out the Relic: Wealth-devouring Rice Dough and filled a giant black pot with rice flour.
Filling the black pot used up 10 million tower coins.
“Ajax, seal release!”
Sejun released Ajax’s seal. The giant dough needed giant strength.
“Ajax, knead it!”
“Okay! Hyung!”
Sejun instructed Ajax to knead the rice noodle dough and started preparing a large volume of broth.
***
“Hang in there! We’re almost at the 40th floor!”
“Yes!”
The Crying Skeleton Gang, led by Gang Leader Koto, responded energetically, working hard to climb the tower for the great task of overthrowing the bone rank caste system.
However, for the six from the lower floors, climbing to the 76th floor of the tower was a very difficult and dangerous journey.
The path was treacherous and filled with dangerous monsters.
But there was something even more challenging than the monsters.
“Boss, we don’t have money to use the merchant passageway!”
It was money. A considerable sum was needed to use the fast and safe merchant passageway.
Moreover, they were not registered with the Merchants Association, so the fee was higher.
Originally, the money that the King of Farming had prepared to give to Sejun was substantial, so the Crying Skeleton Gang, who had stolen it, should have had plenty of money.
However, the Crying Skeleton Gang ended up being robbed of all their money by other bandits along the way.
‘If it was going to be stolen like this, why did they take my money?’
When his money went to other bandits, the King of Farming really wanted to cry.
Thus, the Crying Skeleton Gang became penniless. Perhaps due to their name, sad occurrences seemed to happen frequently.
“We have no choice. Prepare for business!”
Since they were in the same trade, the bandits didn’t take their weapons, so they could still do business.
Hiding their bodies and starting their main business of banditry, the Crying Skeleton Gang waited for someone to pass by.
Then, a Black Orc passed in front of them.
“Boss, should we strike?”
“Wait…”
As mentioned earlier, this area was dangerous for lower floor creatures because of the many dangerous monsters. They waited a long time for an easy target to appear.
***
Ppyak!
[Uncle, over here!]
Black Rabbit had gone into the water to catch seafood to use for the broth.
The black rabbit easily caught eels, octopus, squid, crabs, etc. as if scooping them up from a fish farm.
And all of these were creatures that had lived in the Dimensional Sea for over a thousand years.
Sejun was able to obtain good quality seafood thanks to Flamie, who had herded the sea monsters towards the pond upon hearing that Sejun wanted seafood.
Crunch. Crunch.
Using the Amplifying Greatsword, Sejun prepared a large crab and made a crab shell pot, filling it with water to boil and adding other seafood and vegetables to make the broth.
Fortunately, there were enough crabs to make as many as ten crab shell pots.
Once the broth preparation was complete,
“Ajax!”
Sejun called Ajax, who was far away preparing the dough.
“Okay. Well done. Ajax, seal!”
Having confirmed that the rice noodle dough was properly made, Sejun sealed Ajax.
And then,
“Press!”
“Okay! Hyung!”
The rice noodle dough was placed in the black noodle press and pressed to extrude the noodles. The noodles quickly cooked as they entered the boiling broth.
Nearly 100 servings of rice noodles went into the crab shell pot.
However,
Slurp.
For Cuengi, 100 servings of rice noodles were just one bite.
“Ajax, press!”
Sejun quickly filled the remaining nine crab shell pots with rice noodles, and Cuengi followed, eating the noodles.
It was a new concept for a noodle restaurant, where the noodles stayed still and Cuengi moved around.
Sejun and Black Rabbit adjusted the seasoning of the broth, adding more water, seafood, and vegetables as needed.
Thanks to that, Cuengi was able to enjoy delicious rice noodles until the end.
When Cuengi had precisely made 39 rounds,
Kuehehehe… Kueng.
[Hehehe… Cuengi is really full.]
Cuengi patted his stomach and wore a satisfied expression.
And then,
“Good work…”
Ppyak…
“Yeah… you too, hyung…”
After making 39,000 servings of noodles and exhausting themselves completely, Sejun, Black Rabbit, and Ajax collapsed on the floor.
‘I can’t do this a second time.’
Just as Sejun was thinking about sealing the golden spoon for a while,
[The Tower’s Administrator says that she found the power of destruction on the 44th floor of the tower.]“44th floor?”
The 44th floor was where Sejun had registered a waypoint.
“Maybe it’s time to go see the penguins again?”
Sejun said in an excited voice.
If it was the 44th floor, which was about the middle of the tower, Theo might be nearby and could come looking for him, or he might go to him.
“Toryong!”
Sejun rode Toryong and moved to the waypoint with his companions.
***
Black Tower 40th floor.
‘Just the right prey.’
After waiting for hours for an easy target, Koto grinned upon seeing a yellow cat, a pink pig, and a fist-sized white bird approaching from a distance.
“Perfect! Crying Pirates, move out!”
To demonstrate his bravery as the leader, Koto shouted and ran ahead.
“Puhuhut.”
A sinister laugh came from the opposite direction but he deliberately ignored it assuming they hadn’t been noticed yet.
*****
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