Cerberious had three heads.

  One to be a murderer, who wi—wait, wrong script!

  The left head, the one who liked vegetables, Johan called it Cerbie.

  The middle head, that seemed like the type to silently judge people, his name stayed Cerberious. He had that guardian beast vibe going for him even in this small form.

  However, Johan had found a name to address the right head. He had somehow talked himself out of calling it Growler, since he growled 24/7, even in sleep.

  The rejection of the name happened because he didn’t want to break the naming scheme; he definitely didn’t fear that it might bite him in half because of the lame name. Definitely not.

  But now, he was more worried about it. Even more so when the right head let him poke its cheek without resistance.

  “Sugar high is a real thing after all,” Johan muttered, feeling the chubby cheeks of the right head. That’s when the name came to him; it was like divine revelation.

  “Cherbie. That’s your name.” The right head, now Cherbie, gave him a bark of acknowledgement. With that, the name had become official.

  Although society frowned upon taking advantage of the drunk, sometimes it wasn’t so bad. As Johan chuckled, ignoring the judging stare from Cerberious, he felt glad that nothing happened to the Guardian Beast.

  If not for Cerberious and the two rabbits, Johan didn’t have the confidence to stay sane in this Tower. As a matter of fact, he might just abandon the whole thing, big emphasis on the might since things he was far too deep to stop now.

  Regardless of all that, he had to level up all his class-exclusive skills fast and wait for the quest system to allow him to upgrade his class.

  [Status]

  Name: Johan Askr

  Age: 25

  Class: Tower Farmer

  Skills: General Knowledge Lv. MAX, Translocation Lv. 3, Growth Acceleration Lv. 6, Seed Sense Lv. 4, Water Channelling Lv. 6, Intermediate Brewing Lv. 3, Farmer Storage Lv. 5, Tame Lv. 2, Farmer’s Sanctuary Lv. 1.

  Magik: 42

  Growth acceleration, Seed sense, and Farmer’s storage were skills he could level up fast. These skills were his bread and butter alongside the brewing skill.

  Aside from Growth acceleration, he could spam the other two skills as long as he had seeds and newly grown crops, which tied it back to the first skill.

  However, Translocation and Farmer’s Sanctuary used much more magik per cast. But there was still the good old forceful way. Chugging Magik recovery potions and casting them on repeat. His magik pool has increased a lot, and he has newer, better magik recovery potions.

  “Still, I might end up upgrading the brewing skills before these.” He could only shake his head and prepare himself for the tough days ahead.

  Well, at least the magik recovery potion tasted a lot better than before.

  When Johan lay down in his bed, he looked at his switched off phone and looked back at the ceiling. All his devices were turned off so he could sleep in peace.

  Even though midnight arrived, he didn’t exactly feel sleepy. He had pulled an all-nighter yesterday and worked throughout today too, but he only felt mild stiffness in his right shoulder.

  Was it because he had grown a bit stronger, or did his body become too used to the pain? The latter reason did scare him a bit, but he couldn’t lie to himself.

  Even now, he only thought of what to do when he woke up.

  Should he set up the new Sherry leaves farm area first? Or should he work on the other vegetables and get Rank C seeds for them all? Better yet, why not get Rank C ruby berries and make Rank C vitality potions?

  They’d help him maintain his health and give him more power for grinding his skills.

  “I am too excited to even sleep.” Johan squirmed on his bed like a worm, face in the pillow.

  In the end, he stopped and sighed. There was no need to stretch himself thin. Having Merilyn use her eyes on him wasn’t something Johan wanted.

  Not because he was scared of her skills, but because of how much she didn’t want to use them. That reason alone was enough to snap his sanity back in place.

  To achieve that, he must fix the work-to-rest ratio. Thomas, that damned blue tank engine, was truly wise.

  “8 hours of sleep it is.” Putting the bunny eye mask on, he decided to sleep for the night.

  ***

  When Johan woke up the next day, things felt a little different. With the Night Bloom tea, along with a little bit of dried Nefel’s blessing pulp, his energy had reached new levels.

  Even Miss Kim said that he was basically radiating good vibes, whatever that meant.

  “Maybe Eugene’s pure energy is rubbing off on me.” Shaking his head, he gathered the empty crates and was about to put them in the potion workshop.

  However, even though the sign said closed, the door to the Mart opened. Three people had walked in, the third being Yuna.

  She came in, scratching her cheek as the two in the front barged in without a care.

  First one, as far as he knew, was called Sasha. A rising name in the Academic Hunter Circle, he had seen her mentioned multiple times when Yuna formed her guild.

  The second person, the one in flowery robes and poet-like vibes, was a man who looked in his early thirties. His robe-like clothes looked very out of place with the modern formal clothing of Yuna and Sasha.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  However, Johan’s entire attention focused on the small clay pot floating above the man’s palm.

  Yes, floating.

  A gust of wind circled the pot, keeping it midair, caged inside the transparent prison.

  In the clay pot was a flower, no bigger than a Stanley Cup. The stem was a light orange, and the petals a light red, with a bright yellow centre.

  But the fire that encased the semi opened bud, had Johan use his skill on instinct.

  Name: ???

  Rank: C

  Info: A flower bud that had bathed in fire element magik since its birth. Can be used to make potions that could boost fire element skills.

  Boost fire element skills? His eyes widened.

  “You just used a skill, huh?” The man holding the pot leaned forward, way too close. His eyes were shimmering for some reason. “Fascinating.”

  “Who is this?” Johan backed off and turned to Yuna. Sasha already seemed fed up.

  “He’s a Renolds, a mage with my guild.” Yuna went over the introduction swiftly before adding more. “After I told them about our deal, Renolds happened to find that flower in a Rank B Rift in Sector L. I called you, but your phone was turned off. So, I decided to visit myself.”

  Johan cleared his throat at her already disappointed eyes. He hadn’t turned his phone on yet. Not because he had forgotten to charge it or something like that. Because it wouldn’t make a difference if he turned it on or not.

  “We just tagged along.” Renolds pointed at Sasha and himself with a ridiculous smile.

  “Who is we? You are in this alone, Renolds.” Sasha folded her arms in indignation.

  “C’mon, don’t blame me alone, you wanted to meet our potion supplier the most.”

  “Stop right there!” Sasha stomped her foot, moving forward.

  “Lively bunch, aren’t they?” Yuna approached the counter.

  “I suppose so.” Johan gave a wry smile, watching the two continue to argue. Sasha, as petite and young as she looked, had a lot of aggression.

  “What happened with your phone?” Although Yuna didn’t say it outright, Johan understood the worry this caused.

  “Getting calls and messages 24/7, if I let it run any longer, it might’ve exploded.” His phone was already four years old, poor thing couldn’t handle the barrage of incoming calls and messages that started yesterday.

  From the little glimpses he had caught, it was the recruiters of the guilds, news reporters, and even companies from all over the capital city. He didn’t know why it happened so suddenly, but there was no point in figuring that out now since his phone had become hotter than a baked potato.

  “You should’ve gotten your Hunter phone earlier.” Yuna’s brow relaxed a little.

  “I really should’ve.” At the moment, Johan had to consider which model to get so that his phone wouldn’t explode on him. In fact, he had planned to visit the Hunter Mall with Eugene, after the kid finished his classes, and buy one.

  Two million for a phone is costly, but I have the cash to spare, so I should buy the most expensive one. Johan had already pictured the shocked expression of the cashier when he would play for the S-Class Hunter phone in full and walk out with all the swagger in the world.

  Well, that was until Yuna looked at him with a queer expression; it was like she could see the scene in his head.

  “It’s troubling if I can’t contact.” Usually when a woman says something like that, she’d be all shy and blushing, but Yuna was as monotone as ever. “Sasha is good with electronics; all of the Guild members’ phones were calibrated by her.”

  “You called, Guild Leader?” Sasha appeared like a golden retriever that had heard the meal bell, leaving the awkward Renolds behind.

  “Can you help with Johan’s phone?”

  “I mean… I can.” Sasha glanced at him and turned back to Yuna, fidgeting, “But lately I’ve had a lot of work, so…”

  “…I’ll approve your increase in research budget.” Yuna nodded with a sigh.

  “Yay!” Sasha jumped, turning all jolly while giving Johan a thumbs up. “You’ll have the phone by midnight, with the phone cost and additional resources, it’ll be 2.5 million.”

  “No problem.” Before Yuna could interject, Johan agreed. He couldn’t access the banking app on his phone, so he could only pull out his card as a joke. “You take cards, right?”

  “Straightforward, I like that.” Sasha operated the digital watch on her wrist and brought it closer to Johan’s card. With a single beep, the transaction went through. Soon after, she turned to Yuna and started gushing over the increase in budget.

  “You’re an old soul, it seems.” Renolds had somehow sneaked behind the counter, directly whispering in his ear. “I think we’ll get along well.”

  I don’t know if I want to get along with you! Johan almost jumped over the counter, but moving away was all he could do.

  “Now, don’t be like that. I don’t swing that way either.” Renolds gave a charming smile, which wasn’t helping his case. “I just feel like there is this affinity between us.”

  “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” Johan deadpanned.

  “Guilty as charged.” Renolds placed a hand on his chest and gave refine bow. “Still, I am not lying about the affinity.” He smiled, stretching his right hand forward.

  On the palm of his hand was a seedling, the stalk was thin and brown, and the couple of leaves were dark green. However, instead of growing out of the soil, the seedling had broken out of Renold’s skin.

  As the seedling grew and a small pink bud formed on the tip, it almost felt like Renold’s skin had morphed into this plant.

  While he was trying to figure out where the skin ended and where the plant began, the pink bud opened into a flower with a deep red core. There were a dozen or so pale pink petals along with the calming scent tickling his nose.

  “When we heard that our dear Guild Master had found a potion supplier, we wanted to find out who it was. That’s why we intruded without prior notice. You can have this as an apology.” Renolds calmly broke the flower and handed it to the dazed Johan.

  “There is no we here, I swear to god.” Sasha let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Now now, Sasha, lying is not good.” As Renolds smirked in the face of a pissed Sasha, Yuna stepped in before things escalated.

  Watching her act like this, Johan couldn’t help but smile. It felt like yesterday when Yuna dreaded class introductions. Now, she led a guild of Hunters. Hunters that had her back and cared for her, always.

  Still, that was one hell of a tangent. Johan looked back at the red flower. The info he got still appeared clear in his head.

  A flower that could increase fire element skills.

  “It’s called the Sol flower where I come from, named after the Sun Goddess,” Renolds added. “You’d need the petals to make a potion out of it.”

  “How do I get them?” Johan looked at the rising flame, didn’t think they’d like the idea.

  “Pardon me.” As soon as Renolds removed the wind barrier, Johan felt the heat licking his face.

  However, soon after, a small stream of water left Renold’s hand and dropped on the bud. With a small puff of smoke, the bud opened up to show off the dazzling petals with the rising, shimmering steam. It looked like a redder, more violent rose.

  “The flame will only go out when you use magik water, and once the water is evaporated or removed…” He pinched the air and pulled back, drawing a dozen or so water droplets out of the bloomed flower.

  The next instant, the petals snapped closed, and the fire reappeared.

  “Each flower should make around 3 potions, I think.” Renolds stroked his chin as if recalling what he had read long ago.

  While he was explaining, Sasha and Yuna also looked over, also showing mild interest in the flower.

  There were a good number of hunters who had fire-element skills, Lucas being one of them. If this potion could really affect fire element skills, Johan had to learn how to grow more of them. It would increase the firepower of the Hunters to a new level.

  “If you want to grow more of it, that’s even easier.” Thankfully for him, Renolds seemed to know a lot about this flower. “Just plant it in an empty area and wait.”

  “Wait for what?” Johan tilted his head as the man gave him a cheeky smirk.

  “Wait for it to explode, of course.”

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