Johan had some very serious problems on his hands.

  First, he now confirmed that his Translocation skill, which he believed took him to a separate pocket dimension created by his unique class, actually led him into the Tower.

  Second, he didn’t know which Tower this was. Was this even the Tower he knew?

  What floor was this?

  The Tower had magik beasts that could give anyone nightmares in spades; any of those nightmare-fuel creatures could drop by at any time. He didn’t even want to think about it right now, he shelved it for the moment and cooped up in the sanctuary.

  At this point, he couldn’t trust his brain to come up with any right answers.

  Third, what the hell was wrong with him?

  Why did he not think that, in any shape or form, a class named Tower Farmer wasn't connected to the Tower?

  Truth was, he did expect a connection.

  His brain had seemed to gloss over it in the pursuit of making his class work. Like it already expected things to be ok? And this wasn’t the first time his mind had done that.

  Even when he faced Lucas’s kidnapping talk or the threat before the trial of Agni, he didn’t take them as seriously as he should have, or the reporter and Hunter gatherings outside the mart, even during the reveal by Shadowman.

  All those times, he should’ve freaked out to high heavens and hid in Phantasia, but somehow, he thought it would work out.

  Worst or best part, it did work out.

  Even now, as he sat in the middle of a possibly magik beast infested Tower, his mind somehow told him it would turn out ok.

  Was this his mind trying to avoid the danger to give him a sense of relief, or was something else at play?

  “If someone pops and asks Do you ever get the feeling of Déjà vu? Imma lose my shit.” He bit on his thumb, much to Cerberious’s displeasure.

  Actually, this cute dog of a guardian beast was the reason he could hold on to a little of his sanity. What problem could Tower beasts give him when he has the Tower’s guardian beast beside him?

  This little thing was heaven-sent.

  “You’d protect me, right, Cerbe? Right? Right!” Johan would’ve clung onto the dog if he weren’t scared of the cold eyes that seemed displeased with his ravings. “I gave you so many expensive potions, even fed you so many vegetables that I cultivated with my blood, sweat, and tears, you even promised to repay the favour.”

  Like a heartbroken diva left on the cold streets, Johan employed the pitiful act, tears and all. Eunally came close and patted his thigh; it helped lessen his worry a little, but Johan kept glancing at Cerbe between his sobs.

  Although it seemed more annoyed than anything, the middle head grunted in acknowledgement. The left head gave a cheery bark while the right one growled back. It was a spectrum of emotions with stomping paws.

  But Johan flew in, trying to hug the guardian beast.

  “Thank you, Cerbe, I’ll feed the finest meat and dog che—Ack!” Cerbe’s front paw met his face, keeping him away.

  “Tough one, aren’t you?” Johan sat on the fresh grass, Eunally licking the red pawprint on his cheek.

  Although Cerbe had pushed him away, he had agreed to protect him in the Tower. He wanted to get close to the pup now; he had to.

  Was this why tsunderes became so popular?

  Regardless, Johan could go back to the farm now. Even if he knew where he was, that changed little for him. The fog acted as a barrier, and he had sanctuary, too. Best part, he had a guardian beast now in a way. So, he wasn’t as scared as he was an hour ago.

  The human mind worked in mysterious ways.

  Still, he wondered which floor this place was on. Considering the Hunters had reached only the 48th floor three months ago, it should be higher than that. If it were lower, Paper Hunters would've found this place by now.

  Since Eunally was from this floor, it shouldn’t be that high in level. Was it one of those rest floors where only weak magik beasts gathered, like floors where Hunters could build bases on?

  “That is enough coping for the day.” No one had found a rest floor in the Black Tower as of yet, or they didn’t report it? Land inside the Tower held immense value. “Ok, I should seriously stop now.”

  Reaching the farm again, with Cerberious in tow, Johan let out a sigh of relief. Nunally rushed to Eunally the moment she saw them. She licked Eunally’s face. Johan stood a little distance away, feeling left out. Good thing she wasn’t alarmed by Cerberious. Was it because she could feel the connection between the dog and him?

  Well, he planned to figure those out later and went to check his new skill, Farmer’s Sanctuary.

  The skill had two uses. It stopped aggressive beasts from entering the barrier and increased the rank of a growing crop.

  It did say there was a small chance of it, but what constituted a small chance? It couldn’t be worse than 0.04%, right?

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  Well, the best part about the skill was that it only cost 5 magik power to cast, and after that, it sustained itself on the environment’s magik power. And he could cast multiple of them as long as he had the initial magik to activate the skill. The problem was that the barrier was a stationary one, and the casting had a second of delay.

  The main point he focused on was the rank-increasing property. Did each barrier get its own count, or did it span across all of them at once? No matter how much he focused, he couldn’t get any additional info.

  So, trial it was.

  Johan started a new farm, a little south of his brewing tent. Casting the sanctuary over the fertile soil, he planted a hundred carrot seeds with Nunally’s help. As he watched the golden dust from the dome glide into the soil, he hoped this game of chance would treat him kindly for once.

  With growth acceleration, Eunally and Nunally’s lightning-fast harvesting and replanting, he wanted to do five quick runs to get an idea of the drop rate.

  Well, that was the idea at least.

  “Nine tries, nine hundred carrots, zero success.” Johan leaned against the tree stump, rocking back and forth. He had burned every bit of his energy; only ash remained now. Feeling the rabbit duo pull his sleeve, pointing at the planted field, he could only sigh. “Yes, let’s try one more time.”

  Standing over the field, his scalp tingling because of the drifting magik, Johan cast his skill once again. It was the same fanfare once again. The soil emitted a slight golden glow before dimming for the ninety-nine carrots; however, the golden glow on the last one lingered.

  Swallowing his saliva, Johan pulled out the carrot that looked like a regular, size-wise. However, it had a deeper colour and a sharp scent that hit his nose the moment he unearthed it. If that wasn’t enough of an indicator, the system window left no further doubts.

  Name: Magik Carrot Pro

  Grade: C

  Effects:

  1. It has absorbed a lot of Magik and transformed into a magik crop. Consuming will increase the sharpness of one’s vision by 15% and boost vitality by 9% for 10 minutes. (Cannot be stacked)

  2. Upon consumption, it will burn 5g of fat and convert it into energy, stackable five times in an hour.

  Although the changes in the first one seemed good, Johan’s eyes were glued to the second one.

  5 grams of fat per carrot consumed, stacked to five. 25 grams in an hour. 600 grams burned in a day!

  “Women would lynch each other for this.” Johan could smell the crisp banknotes.

  Although growing this carrot wasn’t easy, Johan could switch to a vegetable that has more yield per seed. Well, it wasn’t confirmed that other plants would have the same effect. But if they did…

  “A world where everyone is fit, isn’t that the dream?” As he laughed, already counting his chickens before they hatched, he heard a sharp chomp near his left leg.

  He had pulled the carrot with his left hand, and it hung on that side as he had lost himself in the sound of the cash register. But now he heard wet chews from the left side.

  As his neck moved like an unoiled machine, he saw the source of the chomp.

  “Arf!” Cerberious’s left head chewed the orange carrot with eyes full of glee. Johan only had a leftover stub in his hand, a stub dripping with orange tears.

  “M-My money…” Johan slumped to his knees, and the other heads of Cerbe avoided his hollowed eyes. “You must pay for this, you must!”

  As he was in the middle of plotting his revenge, the left head craned over and licked his fingers. Giving him a gentle nod.

  “Are you hungry? You want more, Cerbie?” In an instant, Johan gave the left head a new name and offered a pile of carrots.

  He ignored the side eyes from the middle and right heads, continuing to feed the happy Cerbie. This one liked vegetables. It ate the most from what he had offered in the cave.

  Maybe the other two heads also had something they liked more? If so, he could tame them too. The way to any creature’s heart was food after all.

  Even if I did lose one carrot, it’s not like I can’t get more. But how many Guardian beasts does one meet in their life? Johan chuckled to himself.

  A few roadblocks were natural when one set out to conquer the world. Still, before replanting carrots, he had to set up more Sanctuary domes and test the drop rate on other vegetables.

  He wanted to try potatoes and cherry tomatoes for a start. Since potatoes grew in clusters, he could get about 30-40 from one spot. This time, however, he got an upgraded Potato at number 500.

  Name: Magik Potato Pro

  Grade: C

  Effects:

  1. A starchy Magik crop packed with earth’s energy. Eating it will increase stamina recovery by 12% for 10 minutes.

  2. Upon consumption, it will burn 5g of fat and convert it into energy, stackable five times in an hour.

  Thankfully, it had the fat-burning trait too. Seemed like it was one that all his magik crop might share at Rank C. Thinking about that, he couldn’t wait for Rank B!

  High on dopamine, he continued to test more by chugging recovery potions. The next rank C potato came at 100, and one after that at 1000, like the carrot case.

  From what he understood, it depended on luck. But 1000 seemed like the limit, a guaranteed drop rate.

  So, the drop rate was a whopping 0.1%!

  “Is it weird that I think it is high?” Confused by the mysteries of his heart, Johan was about to cast Sanctuary over the cherry tomato field when he got kicked out.

  “16 hours ended, huh?” He turned the timer on his phone off and collapsed on the floor.

  The cold marble floor made him curl up; it seemed like the coming winter would be a harsh one.

  “To think I was in the place I wanted to visit for so long.” He whispered, his mind coming full circle.

  Many said that the system existed inside the Tower, and that the Tower responded to strong wishes. Some even claimed that when they stepped into the Tower as a classless, they gained a class immediately.

  Johan had believed those rumours on the Hunter Net; he had to. He had even saved money over the years so he could go there and awaken his class.

  But, in his heart, he knew that wasn’t true.

  If it were so easy, the governments around the world would’ve shoved all classless people in there, as some countries did with rifts when they first appeared.

  “Pay a million, and you’ll have your class. Only a desperate fool would fall for that.” Johan chuckled at the words of the broker he had met two years ago in a shady gathering.

  That’s when something in him snapped, or more like clicked in place.

  It was the truth he had tried to run from for years. If he had continued, he would have had more chances of becoming an unwilling organ donor or a member of some extremist cult than an awakened. Though Johan did remember a few that fell for that trap, even after he tried to talk with them.

  He couldn’t blame them either; every one of them had a reason they wanted to awaken, like him.

  “Wonder where they are right now. Hopefully safe.” He could only guess since he moved to the Sector A branch of the Hunter Mart after that incident. Changing his entire look and everything to avoid any shady followers that might try to get him.

  If he happened to chance upon those guys, Johan wanted to tell them that the Tower wasn’t that big of a deal. He had been growing potatoes and carrots in there.

  Did this count as bragging?

  Most likely.

  “I am in a position to brag after all. Still, I gotta stay humble.” He nodded to himself, sitting up.

  Now up on his feet, Johan stretched his tired arms and legs. As the clock ticked 5 in the morning, he climbed the stairs to the mart.

  There was a lot he didn’t know about his class, about the tower, or about why this all happened to him.

  But he had time to figure these things out. Later, it’d all click together, at least that was what he hoped for.

  Till then, he could only look at the future and do his best.

  “A new day, but the same task.” He yawned, hoping for another simple day.

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