Chapter 9 of 100

Chapter 9: Receiving the Reward

8 min read2,029 words

On the 95th day of the ordeal, in the morning.

"Everyone, listen carefully."

Squeak?

"From today, we'll start planting sweet potato sprouts."

Sejun made an important announcement to the rabbits who were eating breakfast.

Squeak...

The baby rabbits were greatly disappointed by Sejun's announcement. Sweet potato sprouts were one of their favorite snacks lately.

And that was also the reason why Sejun had to hurry to plant the sweet potato sprouts. If left alone, they would all disappear.

While sweet potato sprouts grow quickly, so there wasn't much worry, planting them earlier would allow them to harvest sweet potatoes sooner, so he decided to plant them today.

"In return, tonight we'll have roasted sweet potatoes."

Squeak!

The rabbits were excited at the mention of roasted sweet potatoes.

"Yum..."

Sejun, too.

When he gently dug up the soil around the sweet potatoes he had planted, he saw that they were starting to form. Of course, he didn't harvest them immediately.

Because there was a raider targeting the sweet potatoes, keeping a close watch.

He discovered this on the day of the fourth Blue Moon, at lunchtime. Sejun wanted to eat cherry tomatoes differently than usual.

At that moment, he remembered seeing on TV that oranges or pineapples could be roasted. So he decided to try roasting cherry tomatoes.

'Cherry tomatoes should work too, right?'

Even if they didn't, they wouldn't be inedible.

Sejun made skewers with dried parsley leaves and started roasting three cherry tomatoes at a time.

[The Tower Manager is excitedly watching what you're cooking today.]

A sudden message appeared.

"Huh?!"

[...]

It might have been a mistake, but after that, there was no further message. However, Sejun realized that the Tower Manager occasionally watched him.

And the roasted cherry tomatoes were, as on TV, very sweet and delicious when cooked.

"Come on! Move! Move!"

Sejun and the rabbits, who had finished breakfast, started moving busily from the morning.

They had to finish cutting leeks, watering crops, pollinating cherry tomatoes, and harvesting them in the morning so they could plant sweet potato sprouts in the afternoon.

The rabbits scattered to do their assigned tasks.

Swish.

The male rabbit watered the crops with a watering can that provided an infinite supply of water.

Snip. Snip.

The female rabbit started cutting leeks with scissors.

"Leave one leek as it is. We'll keep growing it."

Sejun told the female rabbit. He planned to grow leek flowers to collect seeds.

Squeak!

The female rabbit nodded in agreement with Sejun's words.

Until now, the leeks had grown well, so there was no need to collect seeds. However, when harvested, leeks did not become items.

Sejun thought it was because they weren't planted from seeds, so he planned to grow leeks from seeds.

Squeak!

The baby rabbits climbed the cherry tomato trees, playing and swinging on the branches. It looked like they were just playing, but it was actually part of their job.

When the baby rabbits climbed the trees, the cherry tomato flowers swayed, and the pollen spread, naturally pollinating the flowers.

While the rabbits were working at their respective positions, Sejun harvested cherry tomatoes.

Thud. Thud.

[You have harvested well-ripened magical cherry tomatoes.]

[Your Harvesting skill level 2 proficiency has increased slightly.]

[Your job experience has increased slightly.]

[You have gained 10 experience points.]

...

[You have leveled up.]

[You have gained 1 bonus stat.]

He was already level 8. Just seeing the experience points increase made him feel full, and now he had even leveled up.

"Hehe. It's rewarding."

Sejun increased his stamina with the bonus stat and continued to harvest cherry tomatoes with renewed enthusiasm.

Thud.

Then,

[Your job experience is full.]

[Your Tower Farmer (F) rank will increase.]

[You have become a Tower Farmer (E).]

[Your job rank has increased, and your job skills have been enhanced.]

"Wow!"

Indeed, farming is rewarding. The more you work, the more you get, and sometimes even more.

Sejun's steps became even lighter as he harvested cherry tomatoes.

***

"Alright! Let's start now."

After finishing their morning tasks and having a simple lunch, Sejun and the rabbits began planting sweet potato sprouts.

"Everyone to your positions!"

They divided the work again.

Squeak!

The baby rabbits lined up next to the female rabbit.

Snip. Snip.

The female rabbit cut the sweet potato sprouts, and the baby rabbits carried them to the newly prepared field.

Then, Sejun dug holes at regular intervals, and the baby rabbits planted the sweet potato sprouts one by one.

Thud! Thud!

After placing the sweet potato sprouts in the holes, they stomped the surrounding soil with their feet to plant them.

Swish.

The male rabbit finished by watering the plants.

Despite the large number of helpers, it took longer than expected to plant the sweet potato sprouts. They had planted 300, but there were still about a third left.

"Take a break!"

At Sejun's words, the rabbits started to drink the juice of cold cherry tomatoes they had soaked in a small pond.

"Jealous."

Crunch. Crunch.

Sejun, who was eating a cold cherry tomato, envied the rabbits who could drink cherry tomatoes like a beverage.

"Ah."

After resting and watching the rabbits enviously, Sejun got up and approached the leek field where the sweet potato sprouts had been cut.

Then,

Thud. Thud.

He started digging up the soil with his hands to harvest the sweet potatoes.

"If only I had a hoe..."

He regretted not having any farming tools.

[You have harvested a Power Sweet Potato.]

[Your job experience has increased slightly.]

[Your Harvesting skill level 2 proficiency has increased slightly.]

[You have gained 10 experience points.]

...

"Wow. So many."

Sejun looked proudly at the sweet potatoes he had harvested. He had harvested a total of 15 sweet potatoes, about 5 per planted sweet potato. The quantity was small, but the size was large.

Sejun picked up one of the sweet potatoes to examine it.

[Power Sweet Potato]

A sweet potato grown inside the tower, rich in nutrients and delicious.

When consumed, it decomposes 10g of fat in the body and increases strength by 0.1 for 10 minutes.

The effect can be stacked up to 10 times within an hour.

When consumed by a non-awakened person, it decomposes 10g of fat and promotes bowel movement.

Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Sejun

Expiration Date: 30 days

Grade: E

"If I take these outside, my mom would love them..."

He often saw his mother struggling to go to the bathroom due to constipation. Sejun briefly thought of home and then moved the sweet potatoes.

He had to hide them before the raider saw them. He laid 8 sweet potatoes in a corner of a cool cave, covering them with parsley leaves.

'This way, they won't be seen.'

He moved the remaining 7 sweet potatoes to the fire, wrapping them in parsley leaves and placing them in the fire. By the time the work was done, the roasted sweet potatoes would be ready.

Then,

Thud.

Something fell from Sejun's clothes.

"It's a sweet potato sprout."

It seemed to have come off while he was moving the sweet potatoes. Sejun picked up the sweet potato sprout, dug a hole in the field, and planted it carefully. This one sweet potato sprout could produce dozens of sweet potatoes.

"Grow well."

Just as he planted it with care and watered it,

[You have planted a sweet potato sprout.]

[The effect of Seed Planting level 1 increases the probability of the sweet potato sprout taking root.]

[Your Seed Planting level 1 proficiency has increased slightly.]

"...They even recognize this as Seed Planting?"

Sejun thought for a moment. To increase the level of Seed Planting, he had to plant them himself.

"Ha... Then... I have to do it all myself..."

After the break, the work became easier for the baby rabbits. Sejun planted the sweet potato sprouts, and the baby rabbits placed them in the holes he had dug.

Sniff. Sniff.

Instead, the baby rabbits were given the task of checking the fire to make sure the sweet potatoes didn't burn.

When Sejun finished planting the remaining sweet potato sprouts,

Squeak!

The baby rabbits started crying, saying they could smell something burning.

***

"Is this how it's done?"

A giant black dragon crouched in front of a furnace, tilting its head at the 30 blackened cherry tomatoes skewered on a rapier, which looked like a toothpick to the dragon. The color was very different from what humans made.

'Let's try eating it. It shouldn't kill me.'

No poison could kill the omnipotent dragon. The dragon held the rapier with its teeth and pulled it out.

Squish.

The cherry tomatoes, whose skin had turned almost to charcoal, rolled into the dragon's mouth.

Munch. Munch.

"...Ugh!"

Contrary to expectations, an incredibly bitter taste rose.

"Ugh!"

The dragon quickly spat out what it was chewing. It couldn't ruin its taste with such a bad flavor.

"Ugh... Bitter! What went wrong? Humans ate it and said it was delicious..."

While the dragon was thinking about what was different from the humans it had observed,

"Huh?!"

As the bitter taste subsided, a different, richer flavor than the original cherry tomatoes filled its mouth. The heat had brought out a new taste.

"Oh! This is the taste. I need to peel the skin and eat it!"

With a great revelation, the dragon blackened the cherry tomatoes again and, with great effort, peeled the skin using its claws. Or rather, it mashed the cherry tomatoes and drank the juice.

"Phew. Mmm. Delicious. So delicious."

The dragon, eating the cherry tomato juice on its claws, praised it greatly.

Having mastered a new dish, the dragon sat in front of a giant crystal ball, feeling proud and starting its hobby.

"Let's see what this human is doing."

Originally, it was a tool for the Tower Manager to check if the tower was functioning properly, but now it was being used for a hobby.

And the cave that appeared in the crystal ball. There, Sejun and the rabbits were having dinner.

"Hey?! These guys!!! How dare they eat roasted sweet potatoes without offering them to the great black dragon, me, Eileen Pretani!"

The black dragon Eileen Pretani was excited.

***

Huff.

Puff.

The rabbits blew hard to cool the roasted sweet potatoes and then ate them deliciously.

Munch.

Sejun also took a big bite of the cooled roasted sweet potato.

'Indeed, it tastes even better after working.'

Sejun savored the sweetness in his mouth as he ate the sweet potato.

Then,

[An additional quest has been triggered.]

"I was wondering... Why was it so quiet?"

[Quest: Offer a Power Sweet Potato to the Tower Manager!]

Reward: None

If refused: Death!

It seems the Tower Manager was indeed watching.

'I have one roasted sweet potato left.'

There was no reward this time either.

'I guess I have to give it.'

Sejun decided to put the quest on hold.

And when he reached for the roasted sweet potato to eat it,

[The Tower Manager is urging you to offer the roasted sweet potato.]

[The Tower Manager says he won't tolerate it if you don't offer the roasted sweet potato today.]

The Tower Manager's strong obsession was felt.

'This time, it's hard to pass.'

Sejun decided to offer the roasted sweet potato.

"Is there no reward you can give?"

Instead, he changed his approach and demanded a proper reward since he had to give it anyway.

[The Tower Manager is surprised.]

"Surprised?"

What is it? Is asking for a reward surprising?

Then,

[The Tower Manager has corrected the quest.]

[Quest: Offer a Power Sweet Potato to the Tower Manager!]

Reward: 1 Job Skill

If refused: Death!!!!!!!

Another job skill?

Although not entirely satisfying, he decided to be content with receiving a reward this time.

"I'll offer the roasted sweet potato."

He didn't expect much from the reward.

'Probably something like cutting grass or watering, right?'

[You have completed the quest.]

[As a reward for completing the quest, you have obtained the Job Skill - Seed Shop Level 1.]