Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Splash, splash...

I threw the chlorella ramen into the puddle.

Since the chlorella was clinging to the ramen noodles, I hoped that if I left them soaking in water, the chlorella might start growing.

It might not work the way I imagined...

Still, the sight of ramen noodles sticking out of the water looked pretty cool, so I took a picture and uploaded it to the Plant Gallery.

========

[Title: Planted chlorella in my front yard lol]

(Photo)

Hope it grows well.

Any cultivation tips appreciated.

========

The Plant Gallery had been relatively quiet, but the moment I posted, all hell broke loose again.

― This bastard seriouslyyyyyyyyy

― DO YOU THINK LANDSCAPING IS A JOKE?DO YOU THINK LANDSCAPING IS A JOKE?DO YOU THINK LANDSCAPING IS A JOKE?DO YOU THINK LANDSCAPING IS A JOKE?

― You seriously need to see a doctor

― You think Mars has hospitals? lololol

― Where on Mars do you live? Drop the address

― Why do I feel like the chlorella’s actually gonna grow;;;;

― Same;;;; this bastard’s plant growth speed is weird;;;

― Bet he posts a chlorella field next lol

Plenty of people mocked my brilliant plan to cultivate chlorella using ramen.

I wanted to laugh at them, but truthfully, I was nervous too.

For one thing, I had no idea whether the chlorella coating the ramen noodles would actually grow.

And now the chlorella and brush algae would be fighting for survival inside the puddle.

The puddle was an ideal environment for chlorella, but the same was true for brush algae.

“From this moment on, kill each other...”

Still, the chlorella needed to win. Was there any way I could help?

[You have planted 2 crops.]

[Access to Farm Upgrades acquired.]

Whoa. Farm upgrades?

A pretty impressive-sounding feature had been added.

The Tower’s lord privileges really came with all kinds of stuff.

Long live the Lord of the First Floor!

Long live me!

[Aqua... Long live Aqua!

づ

]

Yay∼

After spending some time praising ourselves, we checked out the farm upgrade feature.

=======

<​Lv.1 Farm>

Bryophyte Growth +5

[Upgrade Available!]

=======

Ohh. The upgrade function revealed something I hadn’t realized before. Apparently, I had been receiving the Level 1 Farm effect this entire time!

“No wonder everyone in the Plant Gallery was freaking out.”

Everyone had been amazed by how quickly the brush algae grew, and it turned out they had been buffed.

[Bryophyte Growth +5]

“I don’t know exactly how much Growth +5 means, but it must be pretty broken.”

Mystery solved!

Now I tried pressing the farm upgrade button.

=======

[Lv.1 → Lv.2 Upgrade Available]

* 1 Farm = 33 square meters of cultivation land

* Current Farms: 1

* Required Materials: 100 Low-Grade Magic Stones

=======

I had to stick 100 low-grade magic stones into the farm to upgrade it.

“Some kind of fertilizer...?”

I opened the marketplace to check the price. Low-grade magic stones traded at around 300,000 won each.

One hundred would cost a whopping 30 million won.

For fertilizer—

“That’s not much?”

Amazingly, my sense of money was slowly breaking down. I was adapting to the spicy prices of the Tower industry.

In this deranged business, people sell seeds they spat out after eating for 8,000 won. Of course, I wasn’t exactly innocent either.

I sold brush algae for 500,000 won.

So a price of 300,000 won meant low-grade magic stones were treated like random pebbles on the marketplace.

“Buying 100 pebbles, quick deal.”‘

I casually purchased 100 low-grade magic stones. I had saved up a fair amount of money by selling brush algae.

Flash!

I stuck the 100 delivered low-grade magic stones into the farm one by one.

It was surprisingly satisfying. Like feeding nutrients to a plant.

[Aqua... Heave-ho!

づ

]

Aqua helped with its tiny hands too.

The low-grade magic stones dissolved like sugar and were absorbed into the ground. Soon.

=======

<​Lv.2 Farm>

Green Algae Growth +5

=======

Hurray! Upgrade complete!

And just in time, Green Algae Growth went up!

The chlorella is going to shoot right up!

“The downside is that the brush algae growth buff disappeared, but in this situation, that’s actually a benefit.”

Now that the farm had reached Level 2, only the chlorella received the growth buff.

The chlorella would probably secure victory in the survival battle soon.

That didn’t mean I could neglect brush algae cultivation.

I needed to make a separate brush algae farm. Brush algae were the cornerstone of all terraforming, after all.

Every farm starts at Level 1.

[Aqua... Impressed by the plan! Truly genius!

ꉂꉂ (ˆoˆ )

]

It wasn’t even much of a plan, but Aqua lavished me with praise.

That wrapped up today’s work. Should we head back?

“Return!”

But once I actually returned to my studio, something felt lacking. The difference between my cramped room and my territory was enormous.

I grabbed a dining chair.

Let’s rest in the Tower.

“Enter!”

I’m probably the only person who goes in and out of the Tower just to bring in a dining chair.

I sat down, leaned back, and relaxed.

Wow.

With the horizon stretching endlessly before me, even resting felt different. The chlorella was growing hard. Aqua was bouncing around...

[Aqua... Zoomzoomzoom!

Q–(ᵔ.ᵔ Q )

]

“Nice.”

As I rocked the dining chair back and forth, the wood creaked pleasantly.

Creak, creak.

Everything was great, except the dining chair didn’t quite match the mood of this vast wilderness.

“Should I buy a fishing chair or something?”

To be honest, I had never gone fishing or camping before. They were popular hobbies, but luxuries to me.

“I hated the travel time too much.”

I already spent four hours commuting on weekdays, so on weekends I just wanted to sit still and rest.

But.

What if I could come and go from scenery like this in one second?

Then that changes things.

“Should I get into camping?”

Once I started thinking about camping, even the barren plains began to look different.

Some people spend both money and time deliberately traveling somewhere.

It’s not like you can just hop on a plane, either. What about immigration? Getting to the airport?

It all takes time.

For me, entry takes one second.

And above all, once night falls, the Milky Way overhead is incredible.

“Though some of those aren’t actual stars, but the eyes of my senior lords...”

My seniors in the lord business.

Their gazes weren’t particularly frightening. Most of what they showed was curiosity.

They found me fascinating.

I guess they were curious what a rookie lord was trying to do.

“Can’t hurt to make a good impression on my seniors.”

Should I show them humanity’s camping culture?

It sounded fun to gather camping gear piece by piece and fill this vast wilderness according to my tastes.

“Oh, right. I heard camping gear is expensive...”

No need to worry.

There’s no way it can compete with Tower prices.

“Aqua. Come here. Let’s eat chocolate.”

[Aqua... Sweet food is for childish little ones! Not particularly fond of it!

( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ

]

That’s what it said.

Sluuuuuurp!

ꉂꉂ (ˆoˆ )

It inhaled the chocolate.

Crunch. Crunch crunch.

Sharing chocolate together as the sun went down left me feeling strangely content.

* * *

Europe has the <​Global Tower Research Institute>.

A research facility established so geniuses from around the world could cooperate in uncovering the Tower’s secrets.

The construction cost alone ran into the tens of trillions.

Every facility was cutting-edge.

The problem was the nature of scientists.

Geniuses cooperating?

Nothing more than a hollow ideal.

The scientists became bitter rivals in no time.

“Hey, draft-beer addicts.”

“What was that, you eel-pie bastards?”

“What’s wrong with eel pie!”

The British and German research teams bickered in the cafeteria. European nations had never gotten along especially well to begin with.

That atmosphere continued inside the Global Tower Research Institute. Researchers banded together by nationality and kept each other in check.

“Go eat the fish and chips your mother made you.”

“Haha. Guess you lost World War II because you couldn’t eat that, huh?”

“Urgh!”

They were all great scholars... yet here they were fighting for their countries’ honor.

After all, nothing was more entertaining than the <​Tower World Cup>.

“You German bastards. Wanna play chess?”

“Who plays chess these days? Bring out Among Towers.”

Britain and Germany continued their pathetic contest from across the table.

“Hey, Germans. How’s your terraforming research going?”

The Global Tower Research Institute didn’t concern itself with combat. Climbers already handled fighting just fine.

This place developed new technologies. Among them, the most heavily studied field was naturally [Tower Geology].

The Tower’s interior is unimaginably vast. If only that unclaimed land could be developed?

Drool∼

Land has been the source of power since ancient times. Naturally, everyone was trying to figure out how to exploit it.

“Ahem. Our terraforming results were... not bad. Our research team lasted an entire three days on the Tower’s first floor.”

The German researchers puffed up proudly.

“What did you do for three days?”

“We analyzed the soil composition of the Tower’s first floor. It’s dry land, but with enough water, it could be made usable somehow.”

“Ohhh.”

The British researchers exclaimed in admiration, then asked with wicked smiles.

“And where exactly are you going to get ‘enough water’?”

“...”

“Don’t tell me you plan to carry water in your inventory? You can only bring twenty liters per person.”

Britain continued the assault!

However.

Germany had a counterattack of its own.

“What about you?”

“W-What.”

“What did the mighty British Empire accomplish? I hear you were researching the reset phenomenon?”

“Urgh.”

Reset.

It referred to the phenomenon where the terrain and monsters reset every time someone entered the Tower. Every change returned to its original state.

Reset itself was an enormous headache.

What good was a vast Tower if its shape restored itself every time you entered?

Without the reset, they might somehow manage to terraform it.

But no matter how many resources they poured into the Tower, the moment they left, it all vanished.

“The Korean researchers had a saying for it... pouring water into a bottomless jar.”

“Hmph. Once we overcome the reset phenomenon, the British Empire Season Two begins. Just wait.”

“Sure thing lol”

Tremble, tremble.

They had beaten the hell out of each other verbally.

And both sides had taken critical damage.

Clamor!

At that moment, the Chinese research team entered. China’s number of researchers alone was overwhelming.

Nearly a thousand of them.

The German and British teams shrank back for no particular reason. Somehow, their voices got quieter too.

“It’s the Chinese team... I heard things are insane over there.”

“Did they accomplish something?”

“The Communist Party’s Supreme Committee supposedly ordered them to build a settlement on the first floor 「no matter what」.”

“Huh? No matter what? But it resets.”

“When they say jump, you jump. Guess that’s how things work over there.”

Unbelievable. Was the state basically holding a knife to their throats?

Basic science wasn’t something you could force into working.

“Why issue such a reckless order?”

“Apparently, they want the Supreme Committee to be able to evacuate into the Tower at any time.”

“Huh! They want to turn the first floor into a bunker for the leadership?”

That was surprising.

And actually quite plausible.

“That’s why they’re pouring unlimited resources into the first floor. Enough concrete and rebar to build an entire city from scratch.”

“Do they have money rotting in storage...?”

Was this the might of the continent?

It was dizzying.

In a bad way.

And it wasn’t just China. Oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia were also throwing money at the idea of living on the first floor.

“How much would it cost to make Tower habitation practical?”

“A Mars colony would probably be cheaper. The economics are abysmal.”

If humanity ever discovered how to live inside the Tower, the rules governing the entire world might be rewritten, but that was still a distant prospect.

* * *

I visited a used camping equipment store. Camping had apparently cooled off lately.

Which meant quality gear at bargain prices!

“Mister, how much is this fishing chair?”

“Just give me 20,000 won. It’s very sturdy.”

“Not bad...”

I paid 20,000 won and was about to leave the store when I stopped.

“Give me one more chair.”

Aqua needs its own chair too.

A whopping 40,000 won spent!

“While I’m at it, I should stock up on snacks other than chocolate.”

Might as well keep some snacks inside the Tower too.

I Set Up House in the Tower, and Making Money Became Too Easy