Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

58 Eccentric Gourmand

‘K, King……?!’

Team Leader Lee Seokhoon’s eyes widened in shock. There was only one simple meaning when one said that a ‘king’ was born in Athenae. It just meant that someone climbed the ‘Hall of Kings’.

“Who in the world was it……?!”

Lee Seokhoon came here without understanding the situation so he had to ask about this bluntly. All Team Leader Park did was to point at his monitor in answer. Team Leader Lee Seokhoon turned to look at the monitor. As soon as his eyes grazed the monitor, he could tell. It was none other than User Minhyuk.

Without waiting for his reaction, Team Leader Park Minggyu spoke out.

“And it’s a good thing too.”

“Which one are you talking about?”

President Kang Taehoon asked him in confusion as Team Leader Park explained himself.

“By becoming a King, User Minhyuk would gain a lot of EXP. This meant that he wil level up and he will not be able to easily raise his stats just by eating.”

“That’s really quite a welcome thought.”

“Yeah. If it went on like this, the users would definitely go crazy and complain.”

They felt happy that he entered the Hall of Kings. However, the people in this room felt happier when they realized that his growth would finally slow down. All they wanted was for his crazy growth to slow down and be comparable to the regular users.

Meanwhile, the new employee of the Special Users Management Team, Lee Minhwa, looked around. It was because she could see that the boss was here too. When Team Leader Park noticed her actions, he tilted his head at her in confusion.

“What’s wrong, Minhwa-ssi?”

“The Food God will be receiving a new job class, right?”

Team Leader Park nodded his head when he heard her question. When he thought about it, there was also another thing that User Minhyuk could receive aside from the EXP and it was none other than the ‘special points’. Once User Minhyuk received the points, then he would be the first ever dual class user in the world.

“But what if the class that he chooses was something similar to the Food God class where he can raise his ‘stats’ easily?”

The people around her bursted out laughing. It seemed like they did not believe that such a possibility would happen.

“Eyy. No way.”

“Our new employee, aren’t you too worried over nothing?”

In fact, even the Development Team and the Special Users Management Team were unaware of what job class he would receive. The job class that would be selected through Gorac’s book was randomly selected so they would not know what it was in advance. Even President Kang Taehoon did not know about what class would be selected.

In the case of Gorac’s Eccentric Job Class,  it was something that was planned and created by the supercomputer Athenae. And Athenae made sure to place the highest reading ranking restriction on it. This meant that the only way for them to know about the job class that would be received was only after it was released.

‘Why, why do I feel so nervous?’

Despite her sunbaes’ joking words, Lee Minhwa still felt a strange sense of anxiety in her mind. It strangely felt like it was similar to a woman’s ‘intuition’.

***

Tak, tak, tak─

Valen was flexible, he had quickly twisted his body away and avoided the strikes that were aiming for his vital points. However, he was still left with an injury on his sides. As Valen looked at the blood that was flowing from the wound, he raised his head and looked at Minhyuk incredulously. But their swords never stopped clashing. Minhyuk even landed two more skillful attacks at Valen.

‘Phew.’

Minhyuk breathed a sigh of relief when his attack successfully landed. Valen sheathed his sword back its sheath and placed it on his waist. Minhyuk did the same thing.

When Valen looked around, he saw Kaistra landing three successful attacks on one of his squad members.

‘It’s a complete defeat.’

Valen couldn’t help but smile wryly.

It was at that moment that Minhyuk began to get notified.

[You have completed all three of Gremory’s Trials.]

[You have gained 600,000 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have acquired the Demon World’s Black Pig Samgyeopsal.]

[You have acquired the Demon King’s Largehead Hairtail.]

[You have acquired the Demon King’s Black Pig.]

[You can now learn Sword God Valen’s Swordsmanship.]

[If you have already mastered a swordsmanship, you will be able to incorporate it in your skills.]

‘Ho?’

Minhyuk was very interested. He was not able to see Valen’s swordsmanship in person before. However, he still found the swordsmanship called ‘Sword God’ to be something unusual. In addition, he was also able to ‘incorporate’ it to his previous skill. The incorporation meant that the existing skill would get reinforced and would be stronger without losing its main essence.

When Minhyuk looked at the notifications, he realized that they were not yet over.

[You have completed the SSS-ranked quest with a high score.]

[Your name has climbed the Hall of Kings.]

[You can choose to remain anonymous or post your ID or a different name.]

[You will receive additional rewards for climbing the Hall of Kings.]

[You have acquired 3,000,000 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have reached Lv350.]

[Even if the True Worth of Food has been used, your stats will not increase.]

‘Hall of Kings?’

When Minhyuk saw the three words ‘Hall of Kings’ his face couldn’t stop from twisting. He did not care about being famous, most of his attention was restricted to eating and finding food. The thought of releasing his name to the world was something very unpleasant to him. So Minhyuk simply set the name that would climb to the Hall of Kings as……

‘Anonymous.’

Wouldn’t it be the best if I hid my name and just posted Anonymous?

[The tenth King of the world has been born.]

[South Korea’s King ‘Anonymous’ name is spread all over the world.]

At the same time, the users all over the world were struck with surprise.

In Japan……

[A message was sent all over the world five minutes ago to announce the birth of the new King in South Korea, the country deemed as a game pharmacy.]

In America……

[South Korea is now the eighth country to have a King climb and occupy the Hall of Kings. This means that a new strong man has been born from a country in the land of the East, South Korea. This man is expected to be one of the people who will lead Athenae in the future.]

In China……

[A new king has sat on his throne and made his name known. No one knew who he was. What’s more, he’s the only user who had set his nickname as ‘Anonymous’ in the Hall of Kings.]

And in Korea.

[Dae~han Minguk! Clap, clap. Clap, clap. Clap!]

[Dae~han Minguk! Clap, clap. Clap, clap. Clap!]

[Finally, the first king from our country that rose to the throne has been born! Ah, my heart can’t stop trembling!]

[This is the birth of a gamer who will write a new history for our country!]

[Anonymous User! Who might you be? It’s safe to assume that the Guilds in the Korean Server of Athenae are already on the move starting from now! So they can cast their net and get ‘Anonymous’!]

[But why did they name themselves as ‘Anonymous’?!]

[The fact that his name has climbed at the Hall of Kings means that he will become the target of a lot of people. Perhaps his level is not that high yet. It does not necessarily mean that only rankers can challenge the SSS-ranked trials after all.]

[Then, that means that they will show up soon. If they’re that good then it means that they will be soon listed on the ranker’s list.]

[That’s about right. Haha, but I’m still curious. I wonder where and what they are doing right now?]

[Maybe their heart is still trembling in excitement? I’m sure they’re really happy since they were the first person in our country to become king.]

And Minhyuk……

‘Ah~ I’ve finished all the annoying things!’

He smiled in delight. He clearly knew that something bothersome would happen if he posted his nickname just as it was. For Minhyuk, climbing on the Hall of Kings was not some kind of a big deal since he only played this game so he could eat.

Then, he picked his ears nonchalantly.

“Why are my ears so itchy?”

Minhyuk, who was picking his ears openly, chuckled as his heart thumped wildly in excitement. For others, they might think that his heart was thumping like this because he climbed the ‘Hall of Kings’ but that wasn’t the reason at all. His heart was filled with anticipation and excitement because of the ‘Demon World Ingredients’ that he had received.

He smiled happily as he started cooking.

***

Minhyuk stared at the long plate in front of him. The plate was about a meter long and laying snugly on top of it was the largehead hairtail that he had received earlier. He felt a bit happy when he thought of it as ‘the largehead hairtail that you can eat in Jeju Island’.

The largehead hairtail was a fish that was commonly eaten in Jeju Island. It was an expensive delicacy and would cost around 70,000 won to 100,000 won for around 2~3 people. If the amount of people that would eat increased then the price would also increase.

But right now, this largehead hairtail was something that was only for Minhyuk. This largehead hairtail was even called ‘Demon King’s Largehead Hairtail’.

(Demon King’s Largehead Hairtail)

Material Rank: God’s given Medicine

Special Abilities:

─ Special Points +300

─ STM +200

Description: This is a special largehead hairtail that was personally caught by the Demon King in the Demon World’s Sea in the past. However, it was a pity that the Demon King was not able to eat it due to an allergic reaction to fishes so Gremory took it.

What a pitiful man! My god! You can’t eat something this delicious!

In addition to the largehead hairtail, there was a reddish but well-fried meat next to it. The dish was none other than the spicy stir-fried pork. The spicy stir-fried pork was made out of the Demon King’s Black Pig. It was a bit unfortunate since the Demon King’s Black Pig did not have any ‘Special Abilities’. However, it was still fine since it was something that tasted delicious.

This time, Minhyuk was not eating alone. Ben and Kaistra had made huge contributions in this trial so he would share his food with them. Both Kaistra and Ben even received the ingredients ‘Meat Noodle Ingredients’, ‘Demon World’s Mandarin Chocolate’ and ‘Demon World’s Regular Pig’ as rewards for completing the trials. Minhyuk had used the Demon World’s Regular Pig and gave them a meat party.

Meanwhile, he said to both Gremory and Valen...

‘It’s a shame but it can’t be helped. I’m already going to be satisfied if no one touched my table!’

The largehead hairtail as well as the spicy stir-fried pork was something that was only reserved for him. In addition, he wanted to hurry and eat his food so he could join the meat party.

So Minhyuk stretched out his chopsticks towards the largehead hairtail. His chopsticks quickly pierced through the golden-brown hairtail. Then, with a skillful twist of his chopsticks, he lifted a piece of the white flesh off of the fish. He could still see the steam rising out of the plump and chubby flesh. Since the fish was a largehead hairtail, it was only given that the flesh was something extraordinary.

Minhyuk quickly tried a huge mouthful of the white flesh. His mouth was filled with the plain, savory and slightly salty taste of the largehead hairtail. In every chew, he could feel the unique texture of the fish. It was a texture that one wouldn’t be able to taste in regular hairtails. It felt similar to the kkultteok. Then he swallowed the meat down his throat as he continued to move his chopsticks. He hurriedly clamped on the thick piece of meat one by one. This time, he placed the steaming meat on top of the piping hot rice. As soon as he placed the combination in his mouth, he could taste the flavor of the rice and the hairtail mixing and creating a harmonious flavor.

After he finished eating the largehead hairtail, his chopsticks deftly moved towards the spicy stir-fried pork. He quickly clamped on the pork and placed it in his mouth. The spicy and sweet flavor of the pork complemented its excellent texture. The crunchy texture of the added vegetables were an excellent flair to such a delicacy.

“Wow. It’s really delicious!”

Minhyuk ate the spicy stir-fried pork deliciously. If one looked through his plate, they could probably only see a hint of the meat with how fast he moved and ate with his chopsticks.

What shall I do at times like this?

He quickly pulled out his gas stove and lighted the fire. Then, he placed his frying pan and put some oil on it before cracking some eggs on top of it.

Sizzle!

It was the sound of the pan sizzling when the egg made contact with the oil. Once the sides of the four eggs were cooked well, he quickly flipped them over to cook the yolk before removing it from the pan and placing it on top of his rice. As soon as he placed the egg on top of his rice, he scooped some spicy stir-fried pork together with its sauce and sprinkled it on top of his rice.

Now it’s a stir-fried pork donburi.

He quickly pressed his spoon to separate a piece of the egg white. Then, he scooped it together with some spicy stir-fried pork and rice. Then, he lifted his spoon and placed the huge mouthful of food in his mouth. The rice, spicy stir-fried pork and eggs were only three normal dishes but when mixed together they would create a pleasant taste that one could enjoy. It was a simple dish that could bring a smile to anyone’s face. After tasting the simple dish, he added some seaweed flakes and ate it together with his spicy stir-fried pork. And just like what he had expected, he could taste a great improvement in its deliciousness.

After eating all of the largehead hairtail and the spicy stir-fried pork, the notifications rang continuously.

[You have eaten a grilled largehead hairtail made from the Demon King’s Largehead Hairtail.]

[The Food Fighter’s Greatness.]

[You have acquired 330 special points.]

[You can also invest your special points on stats that can’t be raised with bonus points.]

[Your STM has increased by +220.]

The True Worth of Food might not work anymore but the same was not true for the Food Fighter’s Greatness. And just like expected, Minhyuk invested all of his 330 special points in his DEX.

‘With this, I have already surpassed 2,000. Right?’

Maybe there’s nothing special even if I reached more than 2,000?

Just when such doubts were surfacing in his head, a book suddenly jumped out of his inventory by itself and floated in front of him. It was a pitch-black book.

[Gorac’s Book has escaped from your inventory.]

Then, the first chapter of Gorac’s Book unfolded by itself. Then, the next chapter, the third chapter and the fourth chapter. The pages of the book turned by itself at a tremendous speed. It looked like a strong wind blew over and overturned the book.

Flutter, flutter, flutter!

Minhyuk just stared at the bizarre situation in front of him. Not long after, the sound of the notifications rang once more.

[You have reached 2,000 Dexterity Points. Once you have reached this point, you will be given special Dexterity privileges.]

[You can now have a dual class.]

[Gorac’s Book had moved on its own and chose an ‘eccentric’ class that is suitable for you.]

Minhyuk could see that the previously fluttering pages were now stopped at a page. And the words that were written on the page were none other than a new job class. When Minhyuk checked the information of the job class, his eyes couldn’t help but widen in surprise.

***

Footnotes

[Pharmacy] I don’t know if this word has a different connotation but I guess it’s the slang about the overwatch game which meant having a Pharah player shooting someone who was being healed or boosted by a Mercy player. Combining the sounds of the name would give a sound similar to pharmacy. I’m guessing that the author wanted to say that SoKor which was the country where Athenae originated from (a boost from a mercy player) has shit players that drag it’s name down (a shot from the Pharah player).

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