Chapter 44: Searching for the Electric Eel
TL: Hanguk
What should I do?
Minotaur King, who had returned to the waypoint yesterday and fell asleep in a good mood, fell into contemplation with a serious expression as he looked at the withered green onion root in his hand.
I’m sure there were other beings with red fur beast in the onion field yesterday. And the green onions were neatly planted.
In other words, someone had been growing green onions. He, a great warrior and the leader of all Black Minotaurs, had stolen someone else’s things.
What if the other Black Minotaurs find out? There was no shame like this.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org
Gulp.
Ummuh~
Minotaur King eliminated the only evidence, the withered green onion, by putting it in his mouth. It tastes good.
I’ll pay the price in a month.
Minotaur King decided to go back there in a month, when he could leave the waypoint, and pay for the grass he had eaten first. Then, he would pay the price and eat more grass. This time he could not eat properly due to the one-hour limit.
But what should he pay?
Minotaur King fell into thought about what to give as payment. Sejun had a detailed reward list, but Minotaur King didn’t know that.
***
Grrr!
Baby bear woke up Sejun and the rabbits with a strong Growl.
“Alright!”
Sejun got up energetically and added another mark to the wall, starting the 207th day morning.
“Let’s eat breakfast!”
Sejun called the rabbits and had breakfast. The breakfast menu was carrots and steamed corn.
“Phew.”
Squeak…
Squeak…
But the faces of Sejun and the rabbits were as gloomy as could be. The carrots and corn they were eating now were the last ones.
The first harvested carrots were already eaten a long time ago, and the carrots they were eating recently were those Sejun had harvested were grown from planting the carrots tops.
But even that, the carrot they’re eating now is the last. And the corn, too, is the last. From the day after tomorrow, they would have to eat only green onions and cherry tomatoes.
They couldn’t catch piranhas and crayfish from the pond anymore, and the fastest-growing crop, potatoes, also required around two weeks to be ready. It seemed like a hungry period was coming.
Gulp.
Munch.
Thus, Sejun and the rabbits, who had a gloomy breakfast, started their morning farming.
Squeak!
Today, the Black Rabbit also helped earnestly with the work.
The Black Rabbit’s will to go outside the pond was so strong that Sejun had to convinced the Black Rabbit to only go out when he was with him.
And Sejun and the Black Rabbit agreed to explore outside the pond for two hours after lunchtime.
Squeak! Squeak!
In order to make up for the two-hour gap when Sejun was away from the work, the Black Rabbit replaced the mother rabbit in removing cherry tomatoes from the branch that Sejun had harvested.
Instead, the mother rabbit joined the green onion cutting work and worked in the onion field with the sickle rabbit.
And the reason why the mother rabbit could join the onion cutting work was because the baby rabbits had started to help with the farming little by little.
Squak.
Squuuek.
Squeak
As farmers’ blood was flowing in them, the baby rabbits were finding fun in farming, following their older brothers and experiencing the job.
Squeok.
[You harvested 6 well-ripened Magical cherry Tomatoes at once.]
[Your job experience has increased slightly.]
[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 has increased slightly.]
[Thanks to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 has increased by an additional 5%.]
[You gained 136 experience points.]
“Four D+ grade and two D grade.”
He could calculate what he harvested just by looking at the experience points. The proportion of + grade crops he harvested was gradually increasing. His job experience seemed to be almost filled.
As Sejun was wondering when his job rank would rise, while harvesting the cherry tomatoes,
Buzz.
He noticed the poisonous honeybees busily moving in groups.
“What’s going on?”
Sejun turned his head in the direction the bees were heading.
“Huh?”
In that direction were the tomatoes he had planted for his previous job quest, now blooming. Of the 1,000 tomato seeds he had planted, only 621 had grown properly.
“Is it already time to harvest?”
Saying that, Sejun’s gaze turned to the potato field. Since he planted the potatoes the day after he planted the tomatoes, the timing was similar. Given that he would run out of corn tomorrow, Sejun was more interested in the potato field.
Snip! Snip!
With the thought of soon being able to harvest the potatoes, Sejun energetically harvested the cherry tomatoes.
After finishing the cherry tomato harvest and heading to the surface,
Snip! Snip!
The mother rabbit, now in a slightly fancier apron, was cutting the onion leaves with sharper and larger scissors.
Yesterday, the mother rabbit also had her second awakening. Thanks to this, Sejun was able to precisely understand the mother rabbit’s abilities.
The mother rabbit’s abilities were all-purpose. During this second awakening, all the equipment in the mother rabbit’s apron had improved.
Sejun also joined the onion field working group, cutting the onion leaves and planting the newly grown onion roots.
The effects of the bountiful harvest didn’t only accelerate the growth of the onion leaves but also the growth of the roots. In a bountiful harvest period, the speed at which the roots grew was incredibly fast.
“At this rate, we should be able to restore the field Minotaur King ruined within 5 days?”
Just as Sejun finished cutting all the onion leaves,
Thump!
The black rabbit came up to the surface. Today’s task wasn’t to transport piranhas but to move the prepared lunch.
The lunch menu was grilled green onions and cherry tomatoes. Sejun and the rabbits ate lunch silently.
And then,
Chewing.
Unable to eat piranhas, the baby bear filled its stomach with green onion leaves. In an instant, it had consumed about ten large green onion leaves.
“You eat well, don’t you?”
Seeing baby bear eat the green onion leaves so well, Sejun wondered if all the green onion leaves he had taken home had also disappeared into the Crimson Giant Bear’s belly.
“You can take more onion leaves if you need them.”
Growl.
Sejun’s words prompted Baby bear to nod vigorously.
“You’re good, not picky about food.”
Shoosh.
Growl!
In a happy mood, Sejun stroked Baby bear’s belly. Baby bear, feeling comfortable, laid down and began to eat the green onions.
In the midst of this, Sejun suddenly wondered.
“Why hasn’t it grown much recently?”
Based on the growth rate so far, Baby bear should have grown over 5 meters, but it was still around 3 meters in size. In fact, it seemed even smaller than before.
“It’s not like it’s lacking food…”
Despite this thought, the Baby bear seemed to be full of energy these days.
While Sejun was worrying about Baby bear,
Snooze…
Baby bear fell asleep while chewing on green onions, and Sejun also leaned against Baby bear’s body and fell asleep.
And,
Snore…
After lunch, the sleepy Black Rabbit also climbed onto Sejun’s lap and fell asleep.
***
Squeak!
The Black Rabbit, refreshed from its nap, woke Sejun up. It was time to explore outside the pond.
“First, eat a detoxifying green onion.”
Squeak!
At Sejun’s words, the Black Rabbit chewed and ate a detoxifying green onion. This was to prepare for any potential poisoning.
“Next, check the rope.”
Squeak!
The Black Rabbit checked the rope tied around its waist. The rope was a safety device. If the Black Rabbit pulled the rope twice, Sejun would pull the rope.
“Here’s a weapon.”
Sejun handed over a spear he had made by attaching his dagger to a short stick and adjusted it to fit the Black Rabbit’s body. In the water, the spear was more useful than the hammer.
Splash!
With the rope and the spear, the Black Rabbit entered the pond.
“Be careful.”
Squeak!
The Black Rabbit responded and exited through the hole in the pond.
Sejun prayed for the Black Rabbit’s safety as he unreeled the rope.
***
Outside the pond was so dark that you couldn’t see in front of you. But the Black Rabbit, having been here once before, waited without panicking. Then, little by little, its eyes became accustomed to the darkness and it began to see ahead.
If it had been total darkness, this wouldn’t have been of any help, but there was a faint yellow light down below which made it possible.
Yesterday, when it was getting used to the darkness and began to explore around, a commotion happened outside, so it had to go back into the pond.
Let’s go now!
The Black Rabbit kicked forcefully towards the bottom. The target was the yellow light.
As it moved a little, The flow of the water was strong towards the light, making the rabbit approach it more quickly.
As it descended, the water temperature became colder.
And,
What is all this?!
When it arrived where the yellow light was, it saw a massive amount of piranha and crayfish corpses carried by the current. The yellow light was flowing from the other side of the piles of bodies.
As the Black Rabbit cleared away the piles of bodies and went forward, it saw the corpse of a giant eel that glowed bright gold from its head. The eel’s body was so long that it seemed like it would be the same length as 25 green onions leaves were connected end-to-end.
So that’s it!
Black Rabbit was certain that the eel was the giant electric eel that Sejun mentioned.
Flutter flutter.
As Black Rabbit approached the head of the giant electric eel, he stabbed it with a spear.
Thud!
After slicing its flesh, it dug inside and,
Pop!
Black Rabbit found a fist-sized golden bead. Uncle would love this!
Plop.
Black Rabbit happily carried the bead and emerged from the eel’s head.
Black Rabbit strapped the spear on its back and pulled the rope twice, holding the bead tightly, entrusting itself to Sejun’s hand while clutching the bead with all its might.
Whirr. Whirr.
The rope was pulled and Black Rabbit was quickly pulled up. At some point, Black Rabbit lost consciousness. It had been holding its breath for too long.
***
“It’s the signal!”
Feeling two tugs from the rope, Sejun began to pull the rope.
He had to pull the rope as quickly as possible, but gently so as not to snap the rope. After about two minutes of strenuous pulling, a golden light began to appear from the other side of the pond hole.
“What’s that?”
Sejun, although surprised, continued to pull until Black Rabbit, holding the golden light, arrived in the pond.
“Black Rabbit!”
Sejun rushed into the pond to pull out Black Rabbit. He then removed the bead and the rope from him.
Huff.
Just as he was about to give Black Rabbit artificial respiration,
Phack.
“Ah!”
Black Rabbit’s paw blocked Sejun’s mouth.
Psh!
Black Rabbit looked at Sejun with a frown. What were you doing, Uncle?
“No. I was just trying to save you…”
Sejun felt somewhat upset.
Psh!
Regaining his consciousness, Black Rabbit got up with a lot of energy. Then it picked up the golden bead that Sejun had thrown and handed it to Sejun.
“What’s this?”
Sejun took the golden bead that Black Rabbit handed him.
[You have obtained the core of the electric eel.]
Sejun had seen the same message when he removed it from Black Rabbit’s arms earlier, but he hadn’t checked it.
“The core of a giant electric eel?! You found the giant electric eel?!”
As Sejun looked in surprise,
Psh!
The black rabbit raised its head proudly. I am strong!
Although Sejun didn’t understand how finding the corpse of a giant electric eel equated to strength, but he first checked the options of the core.
[Giant Electric Eel’s Core]
→ This is the core of a giant electric eel that lived for 1000 years in the underground lake of the 99th floor of the tower.
→ It emits light containing the power of electricity.
→ Upon consumption, you can learn the Skill: Rain Thunder.
→ Usage restriction: Magic power 10 or more and the person who defeated the giant electric eel (Park Se-jun)
→ Grade: A
The core could even grant a skill! The mysteries of the tower were indeed endless.
However,
“I can’t eat it right now.”
Sejun’s magic power wasn’t enough to consume it yet.
“Here, take this.”
Sejun handed the golden bead to Black Rabbit and started massaging its shoulders.
Squeak?
Black Rabbit tilted its head at Sejun’s sudden change in behavior. Why is Uncle acting so strange all of a sudden?
“Black Rabbit, I’d like a piece of eel, please.”
Sejun wanted to eat eel.
So, it was decided that the dinner would be grilled eel, cooked from the flesh of the giant electric eel that Black Rabbit had brought back.
And just as the grilled eel was almost ready,
“I’m back, meow!”
Theo returned with great results.
*****
TL Notes:
First of all, I’ve decided to stick with ‘meow’ instead of changing it to ‘nya’ based on the feedback. If you prefer ‘nya,’ you can read it in the manhwa translation, as the manhwa translator has chosen ‘nya’.
Regarding the names of the minotaurs, for now I’ll continue using both names as I did in the . However, I might change it later depending on their usage in future chapters.
Lastly, a new manhwa chapter is out, so you can read that to see Theo as well. 😊
*****