Next to the waypoint on the 3rd floor of the tower, there was a 5-story building made of bricks. The nameplate on the building read Gagel, indicating that the brick building was owned by Gagel.

This brick building was an office built by Gagel to manage the experience point farm, with one each next to the waypoints on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the tower.

On the 5th floor of the experience point farm management office on the 3rd floor of the tower.

Vice Chairman~nim, the operation failed.

What?!

Michael frowned at the unexpected result while waiting for the outcome of the operation.

This operation could not afford to fail. The objective of the operation was not to battle with the enemy but to steal the vitality-infused fragrant grapes and branches of the grapevine.

Considering the movement speed of the Black Skeletons, if the theft was successful, the rest of the operation was bound to succeed.

The reason Gagel decided to proceed with this operation instead of buying grapes from hunters was that the grapes received by the hunters as payment strangely had no seeds.

Michael planned to obtain the seeds or the tree itself to grow the vitality-infused fragrant grapes.

Therefore, a thorough investigation was conducted beforehand to ascertain the location of the warehouse where the Black Skeletons stored the vitality-infused fragrant grapes and the number of troops guarding it.

Moreover, although they were not elites like the Crash Guild, more than 50 first-class hunters were deployed. But to fail?

What was the reason?

Michael asked his subordinate for the cause of the operations failure.

The thing is there were ten 3-meter-tall skeletons ambushing around the warehouse.

3-meter-tall skeletons?

Yes. Unlike ordinary skeletons, they were very hard, strong, and fast.

First, make the slaves work in the grape farm and have them sneak out grapes or branches.

Yes.

Thus, Michael did not give up and immediately proceeded with another operation.

***

Kueng!

[Cuengi is now full!]

After eating non-stop for 2 hours, Cuengis front paws finally stopped.

Kueng

[Cuengi is sleepy]

Feeling sleepy after filling his stomach, Cuengi snuggled into Sejuns arms and hugged him.

Kurorong.

As soon as Cuengi laid his head in Sejuns arms, he fell asleep.

Piyo!

[Im going to the bathroom!]

Flap flap.

Having overeaten, Piyot went to empty his stomach again. Although Sejun stopped counting after the 20th time Piyot went to the bathroom, he wondered if going so frequently would hurt Piyots bottom

While Piyot was in the bathroom,

Tell the Black Rabbit that were going to the 79th floor of the tower and then directly back to the 99th floor.

Sejun informed Coco that he was leaving.

Ppak? Ppak!

[What? Then Ill bring the king.]

No. The Black Rabbit is busy, and we have urgent matters to attend to, so we have to go right away.

Ppak!

[Understood!]

When Sejun had convinced Coco,

Piyo!

[Im back!]

Piyot quickly returned after emptying his stomach.

Then, lets head to the 79th floor of the tower now. Guys, get inside.

Clank.

As Sejun opened the void storage and carefully placed the sleeping Cuengi on the floor, he spoke to the other animals,

Understood, meow!

(Yes!)

Piyo!

The animals responded and entered the void storage.

Clank.

After closing the void storage with the animals inside,

Swoosh.

Sejun unfolded the land deed for the 79th floor of the Black Tower.

[The summoning function for the initial engraving of the land deed for the 79th-floor farm has been activated.]

Sejun disappeared,

Ppak!

[Take care!]

Coco saluted towards the place where Sejun had vanished, bidding him farewell.

***

[You have arrived at the 79th-floor farm.]

[You have moved from the top floor, 99th floor, to the 79th floor.]

[You have descended 20 floors.]

[Due to the effect of <Title: Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 20.]

Sejun arrived at the farm on the 79th floor of the tower. As usual, he began by checking for the presence of monsters around him.

However,

[Mantis]

?!

There was no need for that. The area was filled with green monsters resembling mantises, known as Mantis.

Sejun was momentarily frozen by the overwhelming number of monsters.

Then,

Slash!

A sharp forelimb sliced through the air, attacking Sejuns back. It was one of the Mantises occupying the farm.

The Mantis had quietly hunted its prey that suddenly appeared in front of it, showing its back,

Ting!

But the Holy Stone Ice Shield Cube protected Sejun.

Thanks to that, Sejun regained his senses and pointed his finger at the Mantis that attacked him, infusing magic into the Holy Stone Piercing,

Piercing!

Whoosh.

Two fist-sized holes were created in the head of the Mantis.

Huh?!

Sejun was puzzled by the two holes when,

Thud.

[You have killed a young male Mantis.]

[You have gained 1000 experience points.]

The message of experience gain echoed along with the heavy sound of the dead male Mantis falling.

!

At the same time, the attention of the Mantises was focused on Sejun.

And,

Quiek!

The Mantises charged towards Sejun.

However,

Clank.

Unfortunately for the Mantises, the void storage had already been opened.

And,

Chairman Park! Let me tell youmeow?

Theo, who hurried to tell Sejun about the many Mantises around the farm, realized it was too late after seeing the Mantises charging towards Sejun.

Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I, Vice Chairman Theo, will save you! Meow!

Theo quickly shifted stance and unsheathed his dragon claws, sending invisible magic blades towards the Mantises attacking Sejun.

[Guard Theo has killed a young male Mantis.]

[Youve gained 500 experience points, 50% of the experience points earned by Guard Theo.]

..

.

And,

(Pip-pip. Ill save you too, Sejun-nim!)

Piyo!

[Theo-nim, I will assist you!]

Following Theo, the golden bat and Piyot swiftly flew around, killing the Mantises.

Swoosh.

The golden bat swiftly moved, slashing the Mantises with its wings,

Piyoo!

And Piyot headbutted a Mantis.

Kueng

Meanwhile, Sejun, holding the sleeping Cuengi with both hands, aimed Cuengis body towards the approaching Mantises and,

Cuengi, launch a powerful kueng-fooo to the front!

He made Cuengi use kueng-fu.

Kuueeeng!!!!

[Cuengi is sooo sleepy!!!!]

Kwagwagwang!!

The kueng-fooo, filled with irritation from being disturbed from a deep sleep, tore the Mantises to shreds with its murderous wind.

[Herbalist Cuengi has killed a young male Mantis.]

[Youve gained 500 experience points, 50% of the experience points earned by Herbalist Cuengi.]

..

.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have gained 1 bonus stat.]

Thanks to that, Sejun leveled up, reaching level 68.

Then,

Quiek

A faint sound reached Sejuns ears. It was the Mantises that were weakly hit by the Kueng-fooo and had not died but only fainted.

Kueng

[Cuengi is sleepy but dad woke me up]

Sorry. Sorry. Lets go back to sleep.

Pat-pat.

Piercing.

Sejun soothed Cuengi and personally took care of those creatures.

Once the surroundings were somewhat cleared,

But why are there two holes each time?

Sejun, curious about this since earlier, checked the Holy Stone Piercing to confirm.

[Holy Stone Double Piercing]

Oh?! It evolved?

The Holy Stone Piercing had evolved into Double Piercing. It was a successful evolution from desperate special training to avoid being dragged away by Aileen.

Then, this is the only one left.

Sejun said, gazing at the black gem located near his heart in his shadow. It was the heart of Dark, the god of darkness.

Should I send it to Aileen?

As Sejun pondered whether to send the heart of Dark, the god of darkness, to Aileen,

[The seal on the heart of Dark, the god of darkness, weakens slightly.]

[The seal on Darks heart is released by 0.02%.]

[All stats increase by 10.]

The heart of Dark, the god of darkness, had released its seal up to 99.97%.

Whats this?

Noticing the change, Sejun diverted his attention from the heart of Dark to survey the farm.

And,

Phew. I almost had to meet Kaiser.

The heart of Dark, relieved to have avoided a crisis, was fortunate that Sejuns magical power had increased significantly lately, providing the strength to release the seal.

While the heart of Dark felt relieved,

Are there more Mantises?

Sejun looked around the farm for any remaining Mantises because the message acknowledging him as the rightful owner of the land deed hadnt appeared despite having dealt with all the Mantises occupying the farm.

Then,

Meow! Chairman Park, thats the Mother Tree over there!

Theo, clinging to Sejuns leg, pointed to a gigantic tree in the distance.

Is that a tree?

As Sejun was astonished by the massive Mother Tree that seemed to hold the sky,

[You have discovered a dying Mother Tree on the 79th floor of the tower.]

[If the Mother Tree on the 79th floor dies, the birds of the Kingdom of Kov will go extinct.]

[A Mid-Level Administrator Quest has been generated.]

[Mid-Level Administrator Quest: Find and eliminate the cause of the Mother Trees death.]

Time remaining: 5 days

Reward: 1 million experience points, 500,000 Tower Coins

Penalty for failure: Death of the Mother Tree, destruction of the Kingdom of Kov

Instead of the awaited message acknowledging him as the farms owner, a quest message appeared.

Only 5 days left?

Considering the urgency of the Mother Trees situation over the farm, Sejun decided to revisit the farm later and hurried towards the location of the Mother Tree.

Then,

Huh?!

As a massive shadow formed,

Theo-nim, youve arrived?!

Thump.

King Loui of the Kingdom of Kov descended from the sky.

After Theos departure, Loui had been scouting the farm from a distance every day.

Today, as usual, while checking the farm,

Whats this?

He noticed that the Mantises, which had filled the farm to the point of turning it green, were nowhere to be seen.

Feeling something was off, he approached the farm and discovered Theo.

Puhuhut. Thats right, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, came with Chairman Park, meow! Now, Loui, you dont have to worry, meow!

Piyo! Piyo!

[Piyuhut. Theo-nims trusty right front paw, Piyot, is here too! Ah! Ill just go relieve myself for a moment!]

Piyot, still having much to relieve, hurriedly hid behind a small rock to do his business.

Thank you for coming all this way, Chairman Park-nim.

We are helping each other.

In the meantime, Sejun and Loui had a conversation.

Piyo!

[Im back!]

As Piyot returned,

Please get on my back. I will guide you to the Mother Tree.

Loui offered his back.

Yes, thank you.

Thanks to that, Sejun was able to comfortably travel through the sky to the Mother Tree.

Is it a bit cold?

Of course, the sky was very cold for Sejun, who lacked fur,

Hehehe. Come here, guys.

He overcame the cold by stealing the warmth from the furry ones he held in his arms.

After Arriving in front of the Mother Tree,

Wow.

It was impressive from afar, but its size was overwhelmingly more so up close.

Lets start the treatment.

As Sejun collected his thoughts and spoke,

Understood, meow!

(Yes!)

The healers, Theo and Golden Bat, responded and each used their own abilities to treat the mother tree.

The other three animals also had their separate roles.

Kurorong.

Kyoorong.

Cuengi and Iona, who were asleep, were in charge of destruction.

Piyo! Piyo!

[Sejun-nim, fighting! Theo-nim, fighting!]

Piyot was in charge of cheering.

Click.

Sejun placed his hand on the Mother Tree to begin the treatment.

[Farmers Warm Touch Lv. 7 is activated.]

[The damaged roots of the Mother Tree are slightly healed while being touched.]

..

.

So the roots are the problem?

As Sejun continued to treat the roots of the Mother Tree,

[The Mother Tree, with its roots healed, attempts to move its roots to escape from the entity absorbing its vitality.]

An entity absorbing its vitality?

A message with new information appeared to Sejun.

Then,

Queek!

A massive wave of green approached as Mantises swarmed towards the Mother Tree, and

Kueng!

[Cuengi just want to get some sleep!]

Kyoo-Kyoo-Kyoo-Who woke me up?!!!

The two in charge of destruction woke up extremely irritated by their disturbed sleep.

*****

1/5