Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 320: Strengthening the Territory

“Am I even fit for the job?”

This was his concern. Besides, Minhyuk also felt sorry for Genie, since she was the one who built Legend Guild. However, Genie said, “You’ll do well. I trust you.”

Genie had seen Minhyuk’s leadership before, back when they were still in middle school. Of course, he was suffering from eating addiction so he tended to be greatly biased towards food. Still, Genie was confident that he would be able to catch up on that part somehow.

In fact, during the meeting when they voted for Minhyuk becoming a guild master, there were nine votes in favor and eight votes against it. It was just a slight difference. However, all eight of those who voted against changed their minds the moment the Legend Guild members returned to Atlas. Crow and Ace, two of those that voted no, had no choice but to admit and recognize Minhyuk’s abilities.

‘He was able to apply the strength and power of all of the four legendary figures to the territory by himself…’

‘So, we get the best territory just like that?’

With those thoughts in mind, they lowered their heads and decided to trust and believe in Minhyuk. Seeing Minhyuk still hesitating, Genie finally said, “I believe Legend Guild would be given wings if you become our guild master.”

“Wings?” Minhyuk asked. However, Genie, Locke and Khan just smiled at him.

Genie opened her mouth again after looking at him silently to say, “We need to expand our guild now.”

Legend Guild could not be an elite guild with just a few members anymore. Currently, Legend Guild was ranked twelfth among all the other guilds in the country. It was only natural since they were an elite guild with only a few members. Since they were just a small group, it was natural that the guild EXP that they accumulated would be less than any other guilds. No, it was already a miracle that they could stand tall and maintain their rank with just their small numbers alone. After saying that they needed to expand, Genie looked at Minhyuk and thought, ‘Your power to attract people… I know it better than anybody else.’

Haze had once told Genie that Minhyuk needed to be the guild master for them to become a kingdom. In truth, Genie completely agreed with her words. She knew full well that Minhyuk had the power to attract people to his side, even if he just stayed still. Mei Wei’s case just now was a prime example of that.

“Also, I think it would be better to start a new guild. We need to let everyone know that you have become the new master of the guild.”

Minhyuk nodded. Many people wanted to grab Legend Guild’s hand and join them. However, there were not a lot of strong players among them. This was because the moment these strong players joined Legend Guild, they would exert little influence in the guild. Many strong players believed that they should just stand tall and show the world their strength somewhere else, rather than stay trapped in Legend Guild without any influence. However, the players that usually enjoyed playing alone, as well as the people that built friendship with Minhyuk over the course of his stay in the game, would want to join him and come to his guild, even if they were strong players. That was why they wanted to remove the name ‘Legend’ and create a new name for themselves.

“Do you have any guild name in mind?”

After being asked about his opinion, Minhyuk went silent and pondered over the name. The guild members waited calmly as he thought about it for around three minutes. Then, he said, “Personal Flavor…?”

“...”

“...”

“...”

Everyone went silent. Goodness! What kind of naming sense was that?

‘Ah, that’s right. Minhyuk’s naming sense is shit…’

In the past, Minhyuk used the nickname Red Shot King in an FPS game. He also used the nickname Dungeon King Minhyuk in a character raising dungeon game. That was right. If there was something that Minhyuk could not do, it was naming!

“Then, Eat Kill Guild?”

“...”

“...”

Silence once again enveloped the area.

“Why don’t we discuss it together for a bit…?”

Then, a boy said, “Why? It’s good though.”

The boy was none other than Ace. All of the guild members turned to look at him. They just stared silently at the boy.

“It…it’s not good?”

Just like that, they spent the entire day trying to decide a name for their guild.

***

The South Korean Athenae community was suddenly in a buzz.

[Legend Guild suddenly disappeared in the guild rankings. Does anyone know why?]

[Huh? You’re right. Why did Legend Guild suddenly disappear? Did something happen in their guild so they disbanded? But, they’re all strong people so they will still be able to thrive somewhere else even if they did break up.]

[Haaa. Is our country’s elite guild going to disappear under the tides of history?]

The players suddenly saw a public statement posted by Genie the moment questions about Legend Guild appeared on the internet.

[Huh? Genie has given the guild master’s authority to the Food God?]

[Gasp! For real? Will the Food God lead Legend Guild now?]

[Based on what I read, it seems like they won’t remain as Legend Guild anymore. They’re going to register a new guild and name at 5:00 p.m. today. We should check it out by then.]

Plenty of the players were curious as to what name Legend Guild would take now. And since they were changing their guild name, it meant that they were aiming for a new beginning. After all, they willingly abandoned and left behind their current guild rankings, just to create a new guild. All of the players waited patiently for the clock to strike five. Finally, a system notification appeared in the guild channel of Athenae’s official website.

[Minhyuk has created a new guild.]

[Ohhhhh! Finally!]

[What’s the guild name?!!]

[Kyaaa! Since it’s the Food God’s guild, it should be named with a name that’s as cool as ‘Legend’, right?]

The players immediately searched for ‘Minhyuk’ in the guild master’s section. Then, they saw the guild name.

[Guild Name: Let\'s Eat Sect. Guild Master: Minhyuk. Sub-Guild Master: Genie. Number of Guild Members: 19.]

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

That day was the day when plenty of the people of Athenae were left in confusion. That was right. No one in Legend Guild had a good naming sense. The only reason why Legend Guild was named as such was because the public shouted ‘Legend, legend!’ before. In fact, in the past, Genie used to have the in-game nickname ‘Blazing Shot Genie’, Locke used to have the name ‘Steel Gun Locke’, and Khan was ‘HandsomeSeoktae’. After seeing the name, one of the players’ comments became the best comment of the post.

[The guild name definitely leaves a mark…]

It was a guild name that no one would forget once they heard it.

***

Crusoe was the one currently in charge of training the soldiers in Atlas. He went to the master and owner of Atlas, Minhyuk, and said, “Could you call for people that can train the troops that you currently have in the territory? How about the current instructors of Valhalla territory?”

He requested this simply because there were a total of 200 soldiers in the territory’s troops. Even though he was the Sword and Shield, it would still be a bit too much for him to handle it alone. Besides, there would also be troops that would migrate to Atlas from Valhalla territory. Minhyuk also gained an additional 700-strong troop as an extra reward the moment he gained ownership of the territory. These 700 soldiers were different from the 200 ‘Death Corps’ soldiers. Although the 700 soldiers were weaker than the Death Corps, they were still stronger than any ordinary soldier from other territories. So, Crusoe had to train them. However, he only had a month. It would be a difficult feat for him to completely train them until they reached mastery over the course of a single month. The fact that the troops would gain twice the EXP in that month meant that he would have to speed up the process to take advantage of the benefit.

Then, Minhyuk asked, “What are you going to teach the soldiers?”

“Swordsmanship, spearmanship, horsemanship, archery, tactics and strategy and a lot more.”

“Ho. I have very suitable people in Valhalla territory for that.”

After hearing his answer, Crusoe was filled with great expectations. Then, after that, more than half of the residents of Valhalla territory migrated to Atlas, along with a considerable number of soldiers. That was when Crusoe saw a strange old man.

“Grow up hair! Grow!”

The old man had long and shiny hair like Terrius[1] which he combed carefully. The old man quickly made coffee and handed it over to Minhyuk.

“My Lord, please have some coffee.”

“Ah. Thank you, Grandpa Ben. Kyaa! Your iced americano is the best!”

“Hohohoho.”

“But, your hair…”

“Isn’t it cool?”

Actually, it did not look cool at all. Imagine an old man in his sixties growing soft and shiny black hair just like Terrius. The old man continued to give Minhyuk coffee. Minhyuk drank thirty cups in a single go. Then, an African boy suddenly appeared and stretched his hands towards the dirty dishes.

“Godly Dishwashing!”

[Godly Dishwashing]

[A dishwashing technique given by god! You can wash dishes without using water and remove foreign substances from plates, cups and other dishes!]

“Fufufufu!”

After doing the dishes, the African boy removed his rubber gloves and took out a piece of sweet red bean bread. His expression looked overwhelmed as he took a bite and said, “Delicious…” The boy’s eyes even turned red.

“...”

Crusoe was left speechless at the sight. Then, another man appeared.

“Please give me a cup of coffee too.”

“Ah. Talmor came too?”

The man was holding a recorder and looking at something.

“Ho. So you’re practicing a new song on your recorder. What song is it?”

“It’s Butterfly. Butterfly, butterfly, come fly over here. Yellow butterfly, white butterfly come dance over here~”

“Oh. That sounds very cool.”

Then, Conir’s eyes reddened with tears. He stood among them and said, “Co…Conir!!! Conir feels like Conir’s going to cry at the beautiful song!!! Conir is touched!!!”

‘N…no. How can you be moved only after hearing Butterfly?’

Crusoe could not infer who they were and what roles they played.

“...”

‘The God of Dishwashing, the Coffee Master, the Recorder Player, and the boy that cried after being moved by the song Butterfly?’

Then, Crusoe turned to Minhyuk and asked, “My Lord, where are the instructors that would teach spearmanship, swordsmanship, archery and horsemanship?”

“What? Aren’t they here? I’ll introduce them to you. Granda Ben will be teaching spearmanship. Conir and Sir Corr will be teaching swordsmanship, and Kaistra will teach horsemanship.”

“...”

Crusoe was once again left speechless.

‘These people?’

Crusoe knew that he should not say this, but he felt like he could not expect anything from them. The old man looked weak as if he would faint if he so much as pushed him. He was even told that the recorder man and the young boy would be the ones to teach swordsmanship.

‘What in the world will happen to the territory?’

It was so ridiculous that Crusoe even wondered how Valhalla territory was managed and operated. However, even if he found it ridiculous, Crusoe could not openly show his dissatisfaction.

‘I’ll give them a week. I need to go on special training with the Death Corps in a week anyway…’

The Death Corps was Atlas’ core unit. So, he decided to give these people a quota and a goal for that week that he would train the core unit. Finally getting into a decision, Crusoe said, “Can you raise the level of the soldiers by four levels in a week?”

“It’s not a difficult task,” the old man answered while combing his hair.

Conir and Corr also answered his question.

“Conir!! Conir will train soldiers!! Wow!!”

“Well, I won’t have time to practice with my recorder, but I will do my best. Ah, wait. Did you say you were Sir Crusoe? You don’t look like you have enough hair on your head. If you pay me, I will pray for you.”

“I will train the soldiers hard so they can become a cavalry! Ah, wait. All of the dishes that are used during meals will also be done by me. Fufufufu!”

If they failed to raise the level of the soldiers and reach Crusoe’s requirements, he intended to stop them. No, actually he did not expect them to meet his requirements at all. Then…

“Minhyuk, what are you going to cook this time?”

“It’s Royal Court Rice Cakes[2].”

“Wow. What ingredients do I need to bring?”

“Hmmm. Bring me an eagle egg from the nest of a Giant Eagle.”

The eagle egg! It was a well-known S-rank ingredient with an outstanding flavor! However, the giant eagles were extremely strong monsters, known to give people hell once they came in a flock. Their nest was a place that even rankers did not dare go.

“I’ll come back as quickly as possible! I’ll do my best!” The beautiful woman said, running away like the wind. The woman that looked like she was sent running to buy bread was none other than the number one player in the Global Rankings, Mei Wei.

Minhyuk could not help but chuckle as he watched her disappear. Then, he said, “Hehehe. I took one step in retreat, only to take two steps forward.”

After watching all of these happen, Crusoe suddenly felt like he missed the previous Food God. However, Crusoe was completely unaware of the miracle that would unfold in Atlas after a month.

1. A nickname given to handsome men with long and shiny hair. A reference to Terry/Terrius in Candy Candy. ☜

2. Snacks served to the king, unlike normal spicy rice cakes, it leans more on the savory side. Also called soy sauce rice cakes since they are stir-fried in soy sauce ☜