YM778.TV Chapter 54: Evolution
Office of the Chairman of the Wandering Merchant Association, Mason, a fox tribe member.
Hannibal, the Chairman of the Freelance Mercenaries Association, a tiger tribe member.
Iona, the Chairman of the Wizard’s Association, a hamster tribe member.
The heads of the three major powers that influence all floors of the tower have gathered.
“It’s been five days since the Red Locusts appeared on the 67th floor of the tower. According to our information, two-thirds of the 67th floor has been devastated by the Red Locusts. Currently, the lizardmen are desperately defending around the waypoint.”
Mason relayed the information he had gathered.
“Why isn’t the Great Black Dragon intervening?”
Iona asked with a worried voice.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But we can’t just wait like this. This could lead to another famine like a hundred years ago.”
The great famine of a hundred years ago started when the Red Locusts invaded the 55th floor of the tower, the greatest grain-producing area in the tower.
There had been invasions by the Red Locusts before, but the Great Black Dragon always intervened, so the inhabitants of the tower didn’t see it as a significant problem.
However…
For some reason, the Great Black Dragon appeared a few hours after the invasion of the Red Locusts that time.
As a result, the rabbit kingdom, Red Ribbon, that ruled the 55th floor, perished. They were unlucky as the Red Locusts appeared above their kingdom. This caused a severe food shortage throughout the tower.
“That’s right. It’s only a matter of time before the waypoint gets overrun. If the Red Locusts occupy the waypoint on the 67th floor of the tower like this, they will soon start moving to the upper floors.”
Hannibal strongly agreed with Mason’s statement.
If the Red Locusts take over the waypoint on the 68th floor of the tower, the next will be the 69th floor.
And on the 69th floor of the tower was a large drake farm owned by the kingdom of the lizardmen. That place was one of the five major grain-producing areas of the tower. This was not just a problem for the lizardmen.
As food supplies decrease, so does the circulation of food, leading to price increases, and those who can’t afford food starve to death or turn into thieves.
The overall order of the tower collapses. They had already experienced it once, so they knew very well how severe the damage would be.
“The Wandering Merchant Association will provide materials equivalent to a million tower coins in military expenses.”
“The Freelance Mercenary Alliance will dispatch ten thousand mercenaries.”
“The Wizard’s Association will send two hundred war mages.”
Thus, reinforcements set off to stop the Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower.
***
38th floor of the tower.
“When the heck is the Cat Wandering Merchant coming?!”
“Let’s wait a little longer, if he doesn’t show up today, we’ll leave.”
Five hunters were waiting for Theo at a crossroad he would pass before arriving at the trading place.
They were kidnappers who aimed to capture Theo and find the location of the farm with the Magical Cherry Tomatoes, as they were selling at a high price recently.
At that moment,
“Meow meow meow.”
The sound of Theo’s humming could be heard.
“He’s coming.”
The hunters quickly hid behind the wall.
And then,
‘It’s time!’
Just as the hunters were about to pounce towards Theo,
“Grrrr. How dare you lay hands on Representative Theo!”
“Grrrr. Pitiful fools.”
Suddenly, two silver wolves appeared behind them, slightly exposing their fangs and growling,
‘What the?!’
The hunters were startled by their presence and fainted.
“Meow meow meow. Money is rolling in, meow!”
Theo took the hunters’ thumbs and stamped them on a contract while humming.
‘Puhuhut. You targeted me, so pay me a lot of money, meow!’
In Theo’s head, there was a formula: ‘The enemy attacking me = the enemy giving me money.’
‘Puhuhut. Park Sejun said my life is worth 10,000 Tower coins, meow!’
“You guys get 10,000 Tower coins when they wake up here, meow!”
Theo planned to collect all the money that Sejun had valued his life at from the hunters.
“Yes.”
Theo left the hunters to the wolves and moved the cherry tomatoes that were in the wolves’ bags to his bag.
He made room in the bag by eating some food as he traveled.
“Well then, I’ll be off, meow.”
Theo moved to the trading place.
***
Day 220 of being stranded.
Eummeo!
Finally, the completed mud bricks started to be delivered near Sejun’s cave.
Beep!
Eummeo!
Whenever the architect Grey Rabbit indicated where to place the bricks, Black Minotaurus placed the bricks there.
And then,
Swoosh.
Sejun and the gray rabbits smeared mud around the bricks, filling the gaps between them. In no time, the floor of the house, about 30 square meters, was completed.
And in between, they placed bricks and covered them completely with bricks. The first layer of bricks at the bottom was a space for making fire. Sejun made an ondol (Korean floor heating system) in the house.
One might question why an ondol is necessary in a place that’s not too cold, but with an ondol, you can remove the humidity inside the house and feel extremely refreshed after sweating it out on days when you feel sluggish.
When they stacked a few more layers of bricks, the house was completed up to Sejun’s waist height.
However, there was one creature that looked at it with dissatisfaction.
Kuung…
It was Cuengi. The entrance of the house was too narrow for Cuengi to enter.
‘Dad doesn’t even consider me…I want to shrink and go into the house too…’
As Cuengi was feeling sad,
Swoosh.
Cuengi’s wish came true and his body started to shrink.
Kuung?!
Cuengi looked at his shrinking body.
And then,
Kuung!
Cuengi, who was excited, ran towards Sejun and threw himself. Dad, I’ve shrunk!
However,
Thump!
“Cough!”
Sejun felt like he was hit by a large truck and flew into the green onion field. Cuengi had shrunk in size, but his weight remained the same.
If the leeks hadn’t absorbed the shock, he would have been thrown much farther.
Thud. Thud.
Sejun, who seemed to have momentarily visited the afterlife, opened his eyes feeling a bit faint.
Kooeng!
Cuengi was happy to see Sejun open his eyes.
“Uhm…what happened to you?”
Sejun asked, looking at the shrunken Cuengi. He had become as small as when Sejun first saw him.
Kooeng. Kooeng!
[I don’t know. I just became smaller!]
At that moment,
“Huh?”
Sejun saw the change in the name above Cuengi’s head.
[Crimson Giant Honey Bear]
“Honey Bear?”
Cuengi had evolved into a Honey Bear.
“Can’t you grow back again?”
Sejun asked anxiously. He had a hunch that if Cuengi couldn’t grow back, he might get scolded by the mother Crimson Giant Bear, who might ask what he had done to her child. Could it lead to his death?
Kooeng!
Cuengi shook his head and returned to his original size. No, he grew to 5m, becoming bigger than before.
Cuengi had unconsciously shrunk because he wanted to stay with Sejun and wished to become smaller.
“Wow!”
Sejun marveled at Cuengi who could freely adjust his size.
“Huh?!”
Then Sejun realized the seriousness of the situation. The storage in the cave!
Until now, it had been safe because Cuengi couldn’t enter the cave, but if Cuengi started coming in and out of the cave, the stored crops would be at risk.
“Black rabbit!”
As Sejun looked down at the cave and called for the black rabbit,
Ppiang!
The black rabbit, who had been hunting enthusiastically in the pond, came up to the ground.
“From now on, stay with Cuengi. Got it?”
Ppiang!
Kooeng!
At Sejun’s words, they responded energetically and ran off joyfully. Where are they going?
Sejun meant that Black Rabbit should keep an eye on Cuengi, but they took it as permission to play together.
So, after assigning the black rabbit to watch Cuengi, Sejun went down to the cave to prepare lunch.
Today’s menu was spicy stir-fried squid. When Sejun went down to the cave, there were already 30 squids, caught and cleaned by the black rabbit, waiting in the pond. As always, the black rabbit was reliable.
Swish, swish.
Sejun cut the squid into bite-size pieces.
And when he heated the pot and put in the last piece of eel fat,
Ssssss.
The fat melted, turning into oil and releasing a savory smell.
Chop, chop, chop.
Sejun began to make onion oil by cutting up spring onions and frying them in the oil.
Then, when the onion flavor had permeated the oil, he added the cleaned squid and stir-fried it together.
After about 10 minutes of stir-frying, as the squid cooked and turned white, he added chili powder and other seasonings, and carrots to stir-fry together.
A little while later,
[You have made Spicy Stir-fried Squid.]
[Your Cooking Lv. 2 proficiency has increased slightly.]
[Due to the Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, your Cooking Lv. 2 proficiency increases by an additional 5%.]
[The recipe for Spicy Stir-fried Squid is registered in Cooking Lv. 2.]
The spicy dish wasn’t for the white and grey rabbits who couldn’t handle spicy food, so they were served with boiled squid seasoned with salt, while Sejun, the black rabbit, and Cuengi ate the spicy stir-fried squid together.
“Aileen, do you want some?”
Aileen had been unresponsive for some time now.
“What’s going on?”
Just as Sejun was worried about Aileen,
Ppa-yak…
Kkoeng…
After finishing their meal, the black rabbit and Cuengi came to take a nap. Having grown small enough to climb on Sejun’s lap, Cuengi took over Sejun’s lap along with the black rabbit.
Ppya-long.
Kko-long.
They fell asleep in no time.
And when rest time was over,
“Urgh.”
Sejun’s leg had gone numb under Cuengi’s weight, and he couldn’t move for a while.
***
“Humans, I have arrived, meow!”
Theo, who was planning to earn 10,000 tower coins, appeared in the trading place with a cheerful voice.
However,
“Why are there so few, meow?”
Fewer hunters were waiting than he expected, about 30 people.
Just as Theo’s good mood was about to turn sour,
“Theo, wait a minute.”
“Yeah, our team members are coming.”
“They’ll be here in about 10 minutes.”
“How dare you make the deadly Yellow Cat, Theo, wait, meow?! I will wait exactly one hour, meow!”
“Oh? Uh, okay.”
Despite being angry, Theo was generous enough to wait for an hour.
“Yeah, it’s me! Hurry up!”
“Hurry up! Theo is here!”
The hunters hurriedly contacted their colleagues who had gone hunting nearby through their hunter phones.
As more and more hunters continued to wait here, the representatives of each team discussed among themselves and decided to set up a camp here.
It was a waste of time to just wait, so 1-2 members of each team stayed here to rest and wait for Theo, while the rest of the hunters went hunting.
After a while, the hunters who had gone hunting returned. Then nearly 300 hunters gathered to trade.
The auction was also attended by the Royal Knights Guild and the Wizard Guild, both hot on the heels of the Phoenix Guild.
“There are a lot of hunters.”
Leon commented as he looked at the gathered hunters. Thanks to Theo waiting for an hour, Leon, who was doing the antidote quest on the 36th floor, was also able to participate.
Ever since he brought home the Magical Cherry Tomato, his wife’s attitude towards him had changed significantly, so he was determined to secure this item no matter what.
‘Puhuhut. There are many customers, meow.’
Theo laughed when he saw 300 hunters.
And then,
“Today, I will sell a total of 6000 C-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes, 500 each, through the auction, meow!”
“What! C-grade?!”
The hunters were excited by Theo’s words. It had been a month since the D-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes were released. Just as the research results about the effects of the D-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes began to come out, people were surprised by their amazing efficacy. And now, C-grade?
“350 tower coins for 500 pieces!”
Without even checking the options?
Leon called out the price without even looking at the options. He intended to hurry and secure the bid and then return to the quest. Thus, the auction for the Magical Cherry Tomatoes began at 0.7 tower coins per piece.
And then,
“500 pieces are sold for 600 tower coins, meow!”
The first auction ended with Leon buying the Magical Cherry Tomatoes at a price of 1.2 tower coins each.
“Here they are, meow!”
Leon received the C-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes that Theo handed over and checked the options.
“Huh?!”
Leon’s eyes widened at the option that increased magic power by 0.5. Not 0.3, but 0.5?! If you eat 10 pieces, your magic power increases by 5.
In Leon’s mind, an A-grade item, the Venomous Spider’s Sharp Fang Sword, which he had stored in the warehouse due to usage restrictions because he was short of 5 magic, came to mind. If he could equip the Venomous Spider’s Sharp Fang Sword, his hunting speed would be three times faster than it is now.
‘I will buy all the rest!’
“650 tower coins for 500 pieces!”
Leon changed his mind about winning the auction just once and participated in the auction again.
And the hunters, who were sure after seeing Leon’s changed attitude after seeing the options of the C-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes, also actively participated in the auction, earning Theo 8,900 tower coins through the auction.
After the auction was over and the hunters were about to go hunting again,
“I have one more item to sell today, meow! It’s the Detoxifying Green Onion, meow…”
Theo took out the Detoxifying Green Onion from his bag with an unconfident voice.
*****
1 more releasing soon!