As the Hydra, the snake with nine heads and holding the 10th seat among the 12 Apostles of Destruction, made its appearance,
“Mini ck Hole!”
Iona immediately cast the magic spell she had prepared in sync with the appearance of the Hydra.
Kaaaboomm!!!!
A roaring sound filled the air as a ck hole opened in front of the heads of the Hydra, the mini ck hole beginning to suck in everything around it.
And then,
-Aaaargh!
The golden head in the center of the Hydra’s three heads was swallowed by the mini ck hole.
However,
-Seventh head, pull out the Ninth head!
-Got it.
The green head, following the instruction of the ck head, which was the first on the far left, joined it in pulling the golden head from the ck hole.
Although it was just a fragment with only a fraction of the power possessed by the Apostle of Destruction, the three-headed Hydra was not weak.
And,
“Kyoo-kyoo-kyoo-kyoo, you managed to withstand my magic?!”
Iona was not weak either. She was infuriated that the Hydra had escaped her spell, and her anger reached the fourth stage of ‘Kyoo’.
“Power of dimensions, follow mymand and shred the enemy to pieces! Triple Mini ck Hole.”
Kaaaboomm!!!!
This time, three mini ck holes appeared in front of each of the Hydra’s heads with Iona’s magic spell.
The Hydra’s heads struggled to avoid being sucked in, but
-Aaaargh!!
-Help!
-No!
Ultimately, they couldn’t resist the pull of the mini ck holes and were gradually sucked into the ck abyss.
Kaaaaaaabooooomm!!!!
The heads continued to be sucked in. However, they all shared one body.
Rip.
The body was torn into three parts following its heads and began to be sucked into the hole.
A momentter,
Clink.
Twelve bronze coins dropped to the floor as the body, now divided into thirds, waspletely sucked into the mini ck hole.
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. That’s why you should have just gone when I sent you off peacefully!”
Iona said as she picked up the bronze coins.
“Kyooaaam. I need to sleep now.”
Yawning, Iona headed down to the 44th floor where Sejun and Theo were.
***
“Absorb!”
[Talent: Friend of Fire absorbs faint fire energy.]
Sejun ced his hand on the shell of a bnidae and absorbed its fire energy. Initially, he was surprised when the bnidae disappeared, but it didn’t matter since the back of theke turtle was overflowing with bnidae.
Moreover, there were many bnidae on the belly of the Lake Turtle. So Sejun took care of the ones on the back, while the other animals harvested those on the turtle’s stomach.
As Sejun was in the midst of bnidae removal,
[Talent: Friend of Fire absorbs faint fire energy.]
[The absorbed fire energy consolidates, partially improving your constitution.]
[Talent: Mediocre evolves into Talent: Beyond Mediocre.]
[All stat potentials increase by 5.]
“Huh?!”
Sejun was surprised. The basic talent he first obtained upon awakening had evolved.
“I’ve heard that the basic talent you get first almost never changes…”
He wondered if his talent, Talent: Friend of Fire, was much more remarkable than he had initially thought.
“Hehehe.”
Sejun chuckled and examined his evolved talent.
[Talent: Beyond Mediocre]
-A slightly superior talent than the Mediocre.
-You receive 1 bonus stat every time you level up.
-All stat potentials increase by 5.
Sejun was pleased with the growth of his base talent.
However,
“Hmm?”
Sejun realized something odd. As his basic talent grew, so did his potential. This meant that the potential of hunters differed based on their basic talent.
And these base talents, when descriptors like ‘Beyond’ are removed, were categorized mainly into three levels: Mediocre, Skilled, and Genius.
“What? Does that mean the other hunters’ maximum potential isn’t 99?!”
Sejun felt unfairly treated. He had spent hours diligently making footsteps for the crops and had to eat bitter things to increase his potential, while some people didn’t have to go through such trouble from the moment they awakened!
“This world really is unfair.”
Sejun suddenly realized the irrationality of the world and proceeded to absorb the energy from the bnidae, removing them.
Had other skilled or genius hunters heard Sejun’s words, they might have felt even more aggrieved. Those other hunters hardly had any methods to increase their potential.
Just walking and eating increased his potential? Such a luxury.
“Absorb.”
Sejun, unaware of this, was diligently removing bnidae.
Then
(Sejun! I brought ramen!)
The golden bat, which had briefly gone to Earth, returned. Sensing a little while ago that it was about to go to Earth, the golden bat immediately asked Sejun what to bring, and of course, Sejun ordered ramen.
Two bundles of ramen hung from the golden bat’s feet – a total of ten packets. It was thanks to the elixir-grade cherry tomato Sejun had fed it. He’d have to feed it more diligently from now on!
“Good job!”
Sejun, looking proudly at the golden bat, lifted it onto his hand and stroked it,
Pip-pip…
The golden bat melted under Sejun’s touch, basking in the pleasure.
A momentter
Baerorong…
Carefully cing the golden bat, which had dozed off under his touch, on his back,
Rustle. Rustle.
With its eyes closed, the golden bat clutched its feet to secure itself on Sejun’s clothes and began to sleep soundly.
“Sleep well.”
Just when Sejun had put the golden bat to sleep,
Gurgle…
A loud noise echoed from the water. It was the stomach rm of a hungry Cuengi. It was dinner time.
“Ice cube.”
Sejun quickly moved to thekeside.
Then
Snap.
He flicked his fingers to ignite a me, and a huge me emerged. Even without firewood, the fire sustained through Sejun’s magic.
Sejun fixed the fire in one spot, filled a pot with water, and started boiling it. Tonight’s dinner menu was bnidae ramen.
However, ten packets of ramen weren’t enough for everyone here. So, he added bnidae, potatoes, green onions, Cheongyang green peppers, and other vegetables to increase the quantity and seasoned it to ensure it wasn’t nd.
As the dish nearedpletion, Sejun scooped up some of the soup to taste it. He had finely chopped some of the bnidae to ensure their vor infused the broth, which gave the broth a greenish color, but in turn, the broth became vorful.
“Yep, that’s it.”
After tasting the broth, Sejun added the ramen noodles to the pot and called out,
“Everyone, time for dinner!”
He called the animals over.
Soon, as the ramen was almost ready, animals began to emerge from theke.
Tap, tap, tap.
Ssh.
Theo was the first to emerge from theke, clinging to Sejun’s knee.
Sniff. Sniff.
Krueng!
[It smells like ramen!]
As soon as Cuengi came out of theke, it took its ce in front of the ramen pot, sniffing.
“Here you go.”
Sejun dished out ramen into bowls for the animals and also filled his bowl with bnidae ramen before sitting down.
And then,
Scoop.
With his left hand, he scooped up some tuna porridge and fed it to Theo, who was lying in hisp, and with his right hand, he began eating his ramen.
Slurp.
Chew, chew, chew.
As the meal wasing to an end,
“Chairman Park, something is approaching, meow!”
Theo, swaying his tail back and forth, spoke.
“What is it?!”
As Sejun became alert from Theo’s words,
Sniff. Sniff.
[Dad, it smells like sister Iona!]
Cuengi sniffed around and then spoke.
“Ah. It’s Iona? Cuengi, which way?”
When Sejun asked,
Krueng!
[That way!]
Cuengi pointed with its front paw in the direction of Iona’s scent.
“Alright? Should we go greet her?”
Sejun decided to go for a walk to help with digestion.
However,
“Got it, meow!”
Krueng!
[Understood!]
The two clung to Sejun’s legs as they answered. In reality, Sejun was the only one actually walking.
After walking for about 30 minutes to meet Iona,
“Kyoot-Kyoot-kyoot. Long time no see, Sejun!”
Iona shouted as she quickly flew towards him.
And then,
Swoosh.
Iona, who tightly wrapped around Theo’s tail, closed her eyes.
Zzz.
Iona fell asleep quickly.
“Should we also sleep?”
Seeing Iona sleeping soundly with a joyful expression made him feel sleepy too.
And so, day 333 of being stranded passed.
***
The next morning.
“Ice Cube.”
Sejun, who had woken up earlier than usual, was freezing the ice ind with Theo and Cuengi hanging on his legs.
Just then,
“Kyoot-kyoot-kyoot. Sejun, let me help you!”
Iona, who had woken up feeling refreshed, stretched and began to chant a spell.
“Power of ice. Freeze the enemy with severe cold, snow, and wind upon mymand! Blizzard.”
As Iona used her magic spell, the ice ind was engulfed in a blizzard and changed to a muchrger size than before.
Then,
[The temperature of theke has decreased.]
[You havepleted the quest.]
[As a reward forpleting the quest, you are recognized as the rightful owner of theke’snd deed.]
[Land Deed Skill: Lake Information Lv. Max is activated.]
[As a reward forpleting the quest, 300-backed penguins have agreed to help with theke work.]
Thend deed quest waspleted.
“Let’s see.”
Sejun checked thend deed.
[Lake Land Deed of the 44th floor of the tower]
→ A deed proving your ownership of theke on the 44th floor of the tower.
→ Owner: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Grade: C+
→ Skill: [Lake Information Lv. Max]
[Lake Information Lv. Max]
→ Size: 165,300 square meters
→ Workers: 301 (Land Owner, 300 blue-backed penguins)
→ Special Note: There are a lot of freshwater shrimp.
“Freshwater shrimp? Here?”
Sejun looked into theke closely after reading the description on thend deed. However, all he could see was clear water and other fish with his eyes.
“Chairman Park, cheer up, meow!”
Thump. Thump.
Theo, who had just woken up, kneaded Sejun’s face, who was looking at theke. Just looking at theke won’t smooth out your rotten face, meow!
“What’s there to cheer up for?! But Theo, have you ever seen shrimp in theke? They look like this.”
Sejun bent his fingers to make a shape simr to a shrimp.
However,
“Hmm, meow… I don’t know, meow!”
Theo showed a clueless expression.
Then,
Puang!
[Good morning~!]
Theke turtle, who had woken up from sleep, came up from the bottom of theke to greet Sejun.
“Is Chairman Park talking about those things, meow?”
Theo pointed at theke turtle and asked.
“Huh? What?”
“Don’t you see those creatures jumping off the back of theke turtle, meow?”
“Jumping off?”
Convinced by Theo’s words that they might be shrimps, Sejun squinted and stared intently at theke turtle’s back, but
“Hmm. I don’t see anything?”
Sejun couldn’t see anything.
“Of course not, meow! They’ve all gone back into theke now, meow!”
“What? Turtle, can you go down ande up again?”
Puang!
[Understood~!]
At Sejun’s request, theke turtle dived to the bottom of theke and then surfaced again.
“Do you see them now, Theo?”
“Yes, meow!”
“Got it. Let me know when they disappear.”
Despite Sejun’s focused observation, he still couldn’t see anything.
“Turtle, go down once more. Ice Cube.”
To get closer to the turtle’s back, Sejun created ice to step on. But he still couldn’t see the freshwater shrimp.
“Why can’t I see them?!”
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I’ll catch them for you, meow!”
Shashashak.
As Sejun got frustrated, Theo boldly climbed onto the back of theke turtle and lightly waved his front paws, as if catching something.
And then,
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, did you see my prowess, meow?”
Theo returned with a smug look on his face and spread out his front paws,
“Huh?!”
There was nothing on Theo’s paws. But slowly, small freshwater shrimps began to appear in Sejun’s vision. They were revealing themselves as their camouge skill wore off upon death.
“It’s really a shrimp.”
Sejun’s face lit up with emotion as he saw the shrimp. Finally, he could make salted shrimp (TL: aka fermented shrimp or Saeu-jeot).