The Bored Tower Master's Agricultural Revolution

"There's less to do than I thought......"

And so I ran into one problem. The Magic Tower upgrade condition requiring five disciples wasn't exactly something I could achieve just by wanting it. The golems took care of all outside matters on their own.

"Master Magician, your very existence is a tremendous help!"

"Please leave the cleaning and laundry to Tosiki."

Housework had reached the point where I couldn't do it even if I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wanted to. Sejin considered it an honor simply to live alongside the beautiful girl golems. He kept the messenger app open 24/7, 365 days a year, and whenever something came up he would rush around handling all the dirty work himself.

Research and development were being handled by Dayeon and Seongwoo. All I had to do was occasionally explain magic theory questions they brought to me, drawing from my own knowledge and the answers in the Archive.

"A way to release flame attribute evenly? It's not about releasing your mana evenly. Instead, you have to slightly adjust the mana output according to the flow of fire or air to achieve perfectly uniform emission."

"But how do you even do that? No matter how hard I try, it never works for me."

"Well, it's because the element is already present around you, so......"

Or sometimes I would demonstrate spells that required practical showing. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two of them were excellent at theoretical research but surprisingly clumsy when it came to actually using magic, so demonstrations like this were occasionally necessary.

And as for Taeho......

After chugging one of Unit 3's stim packs, he declared he felt perfectly fine and dashed back out to help with the cleanup operation. He was already an athlete, and with the doping effect added on top, he showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever.

He explained that focusing his shield on his legs or feet eliminated the impact from aggressive parkour movements. That was why he could run up walls or leap from high places without any issues.

If he got a small scrape, he would just drink another juice from Unit 3. For anything more serious, he could come home and take a healing core. He talked about it all so casually.

"I'm going to lose my mind."

I really needed to prepare some healing cores in advance.

And since daily life inevitably created noise, zombies would occasionally charge the building. But the moment the Magic Tower emitted its light—

Crackle—

—they were all cleaned up. It wasn't particularly dangerous.

Anyway. ......I had nothing to do.

While I was once again killing time by digging through the magic archive, the golems returned. This time Taeho was being carried by one of the mass-produced models. He looked somewhat downcast.

"I asked Unit 2 to...... do me a favor."

"It would be a loss in terms of combat capability. Why should I do that for you?"

"......"

Unit 1 stared at him with a pitiful look before handing me the loot bag. Inside were one sparkling Ether Crystal and a mysterious steel box.

I stored the Ether Crystal in a locked box for safety, just in case.

"We essentially razed the area to the ground, so there wasn't much usable material to begin with. What little remained was heavily damaged."

Still, what was this box?

"What is this?"

It looked like something created with Unit 2's steel magic. The crude lump of metal seemed like it would be difficult to even unlock.

"Spore ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠samples and zombified creature samples. I sealed a few separately thinking they might be useful later."

After hearing that, I no longer felt any desire to open it. When I carefully scanned it with mana detection, I could sense something wriggling inside...... Eugh.

No matter that it was inside the box, the moment I saw the dark, twitching shape right in front of me, I nearly hurled the container across the room.

"These things can't reproduce, right?"

"Not at the moment. They don't seem to have any desires beyond finding and infecting humans or killing living creatures."

So zombie cockroaches were limited monsters that wouldn't spawn anymore once you killed them all. That was a relief.

"Though you could probably create more by injecting spores into normal bugs......"

Hmm. I might use them later when I needed to fulfill some special enlightenment condition.

"Then we'll be heading out again. Please cast a buff on us."

The moment they handed over the loot, the golems turned around and prepared to depart immediately. Taeho pulled a chocolate bar from his pocket, tore it open, and scarfed it down before leaping onto the mass-produced golem like a pilot climbing into a mech.

The sight was a little ridiculous, but he seemed to be enjoying himself, so I figured it was fine.

"Do you really not value your life at all?"

Still a bit scared, I slipped some healing cores into his pocket and asked. He answered with a bright smile.

"During my athlete days, I made a huge mistake in practice and nearly died. Ever since then, I've just treated it as bonus life. I didn't have any family to worry about me after that incident either."

It seemed there was a reason he lived like his life was disposable.

After making everyone turn around, I chanted the spell.

"Pfft. Ah, I was trying not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to laugh."

"Unit 1, you—!!"

After sending the golems out on another mission, I was killing a bit more time when a message arrived.

I called the two of them over and listened to their explanation.

"So you put a healing core in water, boil it slowly, and when the healing core concentration reaches exactly thirty percent, you mix magic-made grass and pure mana at a one-to-one ratio......"

What kind of nonsense is this?

"Then, to suppress the micro-mana emission effect, you either create a separate chamber or directly suppress the surrounding mana......"

What are you even saying......

"Haha. Just follow this."

Dayeon, seeing my completely blank expression, handed me a single sheet of paper. It was a simplified summary that omitted most of the theory and only listed the actual steps.

Hmm. So I just needed to match the temperature and ratio properly while blocking the surrounding mana. Now that I saw it written out, it seemed easy?

"Okay. I'll give it a try."

After struggling in the kitchen—not the lab—for twenty minutes......

"Wouldn't it be easier if I made something like a convenience store water heater with steel magic?"

Once I created a device to boil the water and separate the mana vapor, the process became much simpler. From then on, I just had to rely on my senses to stop at the right moment and add more at the right time.

"Mm. Done."

When the mana ratio was about right, I gently released a wood-attribute spell to break it down and stirred it in. The result was a slightly viscous, heavy liquid that resembled a long-simmered beef bone broth.

Green and white chunks floated here and there, making it look somewhat dangerous as it glugged out of the water heater's faucet.

Yeah. This looked like the kind of filth drunk people would spit on the sidewalk. It was gross.

Hmm. This damn gallery, I swear.

Still...... 'If what they said is true, then it's not a beautiful-girl gallery. It's more like, um, a little-kid gallery.'

I was a little flustered, but since the Archive post confirmed that the rather disgusting-looking liquid I'd created was indeed the correct result, I called my disciples over.

In a corner of the still-plentiful empty space, I placed a small ceramic pot I'd picked up somewhere.

"Is this right?"

Ignoring Dayeon, who was clearly disturbed by the horrific visuals, I poured in the liquid and then tossed in the tomato seeds that Unit 2 had brought back earlier, saying they might be useful someday.

Immediately, a sprout grew at an unnatural rate. It produced leaves as large and twisted as the man-eating plants from games, palm-sized and grotesque.

The stem grew wildly, shrinking and expanding at random, before haphazardly producing several large tomatoes. Unable to support the weight of its own fruit, the stem snapped with a crack.

"......"

"Are we really supposed to eat this?"

Everyone hesitated because it looked like a plant grown in a radioactive wasteland, but after reading the Archive post that said it was safe, I picked up one of the tomatoes that had fallen onto the pot and took a big, rough bite.

It was sweet and tangy. It was definitely a normal tomato.

"See? It's delicious."

Only then did they start eating the tomatoes.

"As expected of the Master Magician. They're several times larger and sweeter than normal tomatoes......"

"Hehe, it's tasty."

No matter that I was the one who had created that horrific liquid, they were the ones who had organized everything so I only needed to use raw power. The disciples began running around in excitement over their research success.

Dayeon eventually tried to hug me, but I turned bright red and pushed her away.

Ugh.

Still, their work wasn't finished here. This had only been a test. Now we needed to mass-produce this plant doping agent and create a proper field on the rooftop.

I gave them their new assignment.

"Then let's make one huge field on the rooftop."