Gourmet Gaming

“I’ve finished repairing it.”

“Hey. Did it go well?” Rovan asked. He was not able to hear the notifications about the repair so he was not aware that Minhyuk achieved the ‘perfect’ repair for his greatsword, so he could only judge it based on its appearance. Then, Minhyuk asked, “Do you want me to sharpen the edge too?”

“Yep. That would be good.”

“Sharpen!”

[You have perfectly sharpened Valo’s Bloodstained Greatsword.]

[The artifact’s durability has greatly increased.]

[The artifact’s attack power has increased.]

Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction after he finished the repair and sharpening. He handed the sword back to Rovan, who accepted it and thought, ‘The outer appearance looks good...’

The only reason why Ruwan recognized the ‘perfect’ in the mines was that he had studied hard in preparation for his class change from a warrior to a blacksmith. On the other hand, Rovan’s character was a strong warrior and he had only just started playing the game, so he was not quite knowledgeable in this area yet. In a way, one could say that Ruwan had a good set of eyes on him to be able to recognize Minhyuk and his ‘perfect’ repairs. Rovan was in shock when he checked the greatsword’s information after Minhyuk had repaired and sharpened it.

‘Huh...?’

Rovan checked the information again just to make sure that he read it right.

‘Huh...?!’

Rovan was so shocked when he saw that the attack power of his sword had increased by +30. There was even a +1 on STR and +1 on AGI added to the special abilities section. His weapons were usually repaired and sharpened by advanced level blacksmiths, and there were no such effects before. So what did this mean? Rovan hesitantly asked, “B…by any chance… did the repair turn out to be perfect?”

“Yes. I did it very well so it turned out perfect.”

“...I see,” Rovan answered dumbly in shock. To be honest, Minhyuk’s blacksmithing skill was much better than most advanced blacksmiths. It was very rare for them to achieve a perfect repair. Also, Minhyuk had a high DEX, and thanks to his special DEX privilege, all of his skills related to DEX would have double efficiency and effectiveness. A thought had been constantly brewing at the back of Rovan’s mind since earlier.

‘Minhyuk...’

He really wanted to pull this person to Legend Guild. Minhyuk was a very excellent damage dealer and was also a good tank. He even had a high HP and MP volume as well as magical defense. Besides, Minhyuk was also a very talented chef.

‘GM has been looking for a chef these days, should I recommend Minhyuk?’

Rovan believed that Minhyuk would easily be one of the top rankers once he fully developed. However, before he could even finish that thought, Minhyuk said, “It’s time to start our leveling spree again.”

Rovan could imagine another wild, crazy hunting session that would begin soon.

“Sigh.”

Rovan unconsciously let out a sigh of defeat.

***

Puhaaaaa!

Minhyuk and Rovan’s hunt went on smoothly. Minhyuk slashed the final poisonous toad in their vicinity.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have released the seal on the Secondary Level of Ellie’s Kitchen Knife.]

Minhyuk smiled widely as he hurriedly checked the information about Ellie’s Sword.

(Ellie's Sword) 

Class: Epic

Requirements: Primary Level has no requirements. Secondary Level requires the player to be at Level 120

Durability: ∞/∞

Attack Power: 311 + 50

Special Abilities

•STR +4, AGI +3

•Skill: Dauntless Strike

Primary Level's Special Abilities:

•DEX acquisition rate x4

•DEX +40

•Can be equipped with a sword. 

•Can automatically clean itself. 

•Can change to any type of cooking tool. 

Secondary Level's Special Abilities:

•Skill: Retrieval

•Skill: He Who Overcomes

•Buff Volume doubles.

Description: This was an artifact that the Empress bestowed upon Len, the best chef in Eivelis Empire. 

‘Oh...’

The attack power of the current Ellie’s Sword had increased by 100. There were even two new skills that were added to the artifact. Minhyuk quickly clicked on the skills.

(Retrieval)

Artifact Skill

Level: None

Mana Required: 5

Cooldown: None

Effects: Retrieve Ellie’s Sword within a 30-meter radius.

Description: A useful skill that can be used when you threw the sword and missed your target.

(He Who Overcomes)

Artifact Skill

Level: None

Mana Required: 300

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Effects: This skill can be used once your HP reaches zero. Your HP will increase by one and it will trigger three seconds of invincibility. All of your skills and abilities will increase by 30% during that time frame.

Retrieval might look like it was just an ordinary skill, but it would be useful especially when one was in the midst of battle. He Who Overcomes was a last resort skill. Once Minhyuk’s HP reached zero, he would be forced to log out of the game. However, this skill would increase his HP by one and even let his skills and abilities exert a stronger power during the three seconds invincibility granted by the skill. The upgrade was not bad. There was also the doubling of the buff volume. This would mean that Minhyuk would be able to make even more buffed dishes in one day. Minhyuk smiled contentedly as he finished looking through the information.

“Bbiiiiiiiii!”

[Gryphon’s Cry]

[You have a 70~80% chance of attracting the attention of all the monsters within a 20-meter radius.]

[Party members within a 10-meter radius will have a 12~14% increase in all five of their basic stats.]

Jump, jump, jump!

Poisonous toads started to swarm towards their location. Now that Minhyuk and Rovan had fought together for quite some time, they could easily hunt more than ten monsters all at once.

[Rampant Sword.]

[A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 5 seconds.]

Puhaaaa!

Puhaaaa!

Puhaaaa!

Minhyuk’s sword rapidly and indiscriminately stabbed through the bodies of the poisonous toads that swarmed in their direction. Then, Rovan jumped in and joined the fray.

[Greatsword's Linked Swordsmanship]

[You will be able to swing your greatsword at four times its normal speed.] 

Stab!

“...Croak!”

Staab!

“Croak!”

[You have leveled up.]

Stab!

[You have leveled up.]

Minhyuk and Rovan were chuckling brightly at the constant ringing of notifications in their heads. The two literally went on a crazy hunting frenzy, resulting in an insane leveling spree. At some point in time, Minhyuk’s level had reached Level 148. He was already close to his target level. At the same time, pleasant notifications kept on popping up and ringing in his head.

[Ellie’s Swordsmanship has leveled up.]

[Chapter 1: Sword of Fury’s attack power has increased by +3%.]

[Chapter 2: Rampant Sword’s duration has increased from 5 seconds to 6 seconds.]

[Chapter 3: Ellie’s Swordsmanship’s duration has increased from 5 minutes to 6 minutes. The stat increase rate has also increased by +2%.]

[Chapter 4: Step can now allow you to take two steps instead of the original one step.]

The first level up of a skill would allow one to see how the skill would develop in the future. The Sword of Fury gained a +3% increase in attack power for every level. Both Rampant Sword and Ellie’s Swordsmanship gained an increase in duration. In the case of Ellie’s Swordsmanship, there was even an additional 2% increase in his stat increase rate. In the case of Step, Minhyuk would now be able to take two quick steps instead of just one. Minhyuk was quite satisfied with the increase in his skill.

“It seems like we’re almost done?” Rovan asked. In fact, it was already getting harder for them to find monsters now. Then…

Crackle! Bang!

…A thunderbolt suddenly appeared out of the blue and struck the ground near them. After the smoke and light disappeared, they could see a monster standing where the thunderbolt struck. It was a monster that was much bigger than all of the monsters that had ever appeared in the hidden field, its size as large as a two-ton truck.

[The Great Mage Arfield’s Poisonous Toad King has appeared.]

The Poisonous Toad King looked extremely menacing. Rovan was completely tense as he looked at it. The ground shook whenever the Poisonous Toad King took a step, and it looked like an ogre walking with its heavy steps. When Rovan looked at the person beside him, he could see Minhyuk trembling all over. He asked, “Mi…Minhyuk...?”

This was the first time that Rovan had ever seen Minhyuk in this state. He had never seen Minhyuk shake like that before. Then, he thought, ‘Well, there were a lot of rumors circulating around about the Great Mage Arfield who once terrorized the whole continent. And now, even its Poisonous Toad King has appeared!’

However, it was actually the opposite of what Rovan was thinking. Minhyuk called out, “Ro…Rovan...”

“Yes?”

“The poison that’s dripping out of that toad’s mouth… It's soy sauce!”

“...What are you saying?”

“The poison that’s dripping from the mouth of that monster is a delicious soy sauce!”

“...?”

Rovan looked at Minhyuk strangely. His expression looked like he did not know what the hell was going on.

***

[The Great Mage Arfield’s Poisonous Toad King has appeared.]

The moment he heard the notification, Minhyuk quickly casted his gaze at the monster that was called Poisonous Toad King. His Eccentric Food God skill would immediately inform him whether a named monster was edible or not. He could only eat monsters that were shining with a black light. Monsters that had no light were not edible. When Minhyuk looked at the Poisonous Toad King, he was able to see a black light glowing from the body of the monster. That was not all. He also saw that there were only a pitiful amount of ingredients that he could get from it. It was just this…

[Ingredients that could be obtained from the Poisonous Toad King.]

[Poisonous Soy Sauce.]

[The poisonous soy sauce can be obtained even if you did not successfully hunt the Poisonous Toad King. The poison from the mouth of the Poisonous Toad is the poisonous soy sauce.]

[The first dose of the poisonous soy sauce has a special effect.]

In fact, while he had eaten monsters as food through his Eccentric Food God skill before, this was the first time that he saw that he could receive the ingredients even without hunting the monster. And what was more surprising was…

‘There’s a special effect when I get it for the first time?’ 

Then, Minhyuk thought, ‘The poisonous soy sauce would definitely taste better than the normal soy sauce, right? I can add this poisonous soy sauce to the soy sauce egg rice with kimchi and radish kimchi on top, right?’ 

Minhyuk was filled with anticipation. Soy sauce had magical powers. Once you add soy sauce to seaweed soup, beef radish soup, and other various soup and stew dishes, it would make the flavor deeper, and tastier.

Once Minhyuk reached Level 200, he would go out to sea. There was a dish that he wanted to try if he ever caught a crab in there. It was the spicy marinated crabs. He could definitely make the spicy marinated crabs with the poisonous soy sauce.

Minhyuk could already imagine the soy sauce that will permeate every nook and cranny of the well-marinated crab. Then, once he pulled the shell apart, he would be able to see the creamy flesh and golden eggs that were packed together in it.

Gulp━

Minhyuk gulped at the thought. Then, he would pull one of the legs off of the crab and suck up the meat in it. He would pair it with big spoonfuls of rice. Minhyuk would also make sure to add some rice on the shells of the crabs and mix it well. And once he placed it in his mouth, he would be able to taste the harmonious flavor of the savory soy sauce-marinated crab and the rice. Minhyuk’s body trembled in excitement as he imagined the dishes that he would eat with the poisonous soy sauce.

“Mi, Minhyuk…?” Rovan asked, looking at the shaking Minhyuk worriedly.

“The poison that’s dripping out of that toad’s mouth… It's soy sauce!”

“...What are you saying?”

“The poison that’s dripping from the mouth of that monster is a delicious soy sauce!”

“...?”

Rovan looked at him strangely. Then…

Croaaak━

The giant Poisonous Toad King’s body swelled up. Minhyuk prepared himself for the battle that would occur. He triggered his title ‘The Battlefield’s Ruler’. The poisonous toad king was a monster that was at Level 168 and the title would surely help him in the imminent fight.

[Ellie’s Swordsmanship.]

[All stats will have a 17% increase for 6 minutes.]

[Your Evasion Rate has increased by +30%.]

[Your Critical Hit Rate has increased by +30%.]

“I want to eat... that poisonous soy sauce marinated crab...!” Minhyuk said, his strong determination fueling his desire to battle.

“Minhyuk, please… talk to me when you’re going to make your move! That guy’s poison most likely has a large range! And it’s totally different from the poisonous toads that we have fought before!”

The common poisonous toad’s poison attack melted Rovan’s armor when he got hit by the attack. What was scarier was the fact that he suffered from a pain that felt like his whole body was melting. Had it not been for Minhyuk’s bandaging, he would have lost at least 20% of his HP with just one hit. If so, what about the poison of the Poisonous Toad King?! When Rovan saw Minhyuk running to where it was, he looked at him as if he was crazy. Then, at that moment, the Poisonous Toad King with its bulging chin suddenly spewed out poison.

“Puhaaaaaaaa!”

It spewed out an enormous amount of poison. Furthermore, the projectile had been released with such strength, that it was rotating as it flew towards them at an extreme speed! Minhyuk quickly enlarged his frying pan.

[Frying Pan Gigantification.]

[You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

Minhyuk hurriedly stretched his frying pan forward to catch the incoming poison. Once the poison made contact with the frying pan…

Sizzle!

…white smoke rose from the frying pan.