Gourmet Gaming

It seemed like candies could make anyone stop crying!

‘What the hell? Did you cry just so I will buy you something to eat?!’ Changwook thought.

Minhyuk had an incredible amount of patience and tenacity when it came to food so it was no wonder that Changwook thought like that! 

‘He even sacrificed his sleep to eat, you know!’

"Ah. That’s refreshing!" Minhyuk said as he came down from the weighing scale. He already let his feelings out so now he was only filled with joy. A smile hung gently around his lips showing the people around him that he was really happy. Even his heart was pounding wildly with elation. He imagined himself after losing weight.

'Maybe I can really look like I am inside the game?’

Just the thought was enough to put Minhyuk into a good mood, his butt swaying and wriggling to a beat as he went down the scale.

"Doo doom chit! Doo doom chit!"

The sight was quite comical, his dancing making everyone smile and laugh.

"Hahahaha!" 

"Hohohoho!" 

It was definitely a touching day, and only laughter rang loudly in the room. After a while, Oh Changwook approached Minhyuk and said, "Hey, how high is your DEX now? You said that you’re still going to the dungeon today, right?”

"Yes. Hoho. Today is a very big day. Today is the day that I will finally harvest my fruits,” Minhyuk said happily. Today was the day that the seeds that he planted would bear fruits. Once he obtained the fruits, he would leave the dungeon. 

"So, what’s your DEX now?" 

"I think it's at 298?"

"..." 

"..." 

"...Ridiculous." 

The people present were suddenly in an uproar. Even Oh Changwook looked astonished. He said, “You’re telling me that your DEX is almost 300 now…?”

"Yes!" Minhyuk answered with a nod. His DEX acquisition rate inside the dungeon had already increased by 8x. With an incredibly high acquisition rate, coupled with non-stop digging and cooking every moment of the day, it was only natural that his DEX would increase by that much.

“From what I heard, our guild’s blacksmith only had a little over 400 DEX when he went from intermediate to advanced level…?”

“...Is that so? Maybe he couldn’t increase it? Ah. No. Maybe it’s because my DEX acquisition rate has increased by 8x. That’s why mine increased that fast.”

After thinking deeply, Changwook still believed that an 8x acquisition rate would not allow Minhyuk’s DEX to increase to that level in such a short period of time. Then, he said, "I think I know the reason." 

"What?" 

“From what I heard, increasing DEX has various rules. But, the first rule to increase DEX is to continuously repeat an action. Right?”

"Yeah," Everyone answered in agreement. This was something that everyone knew.

“I heard about other rules too. From what I’ve gathered, it seems like concentration and working non-stop are also factors. The rate at which DEX increases, increases little by little the moment these factors overlap together. The more they overlap, the more the rates would stack. But there’s no notification about it.”

"Oh, I see?" 

This was something unexpected. To summarize, Minhyuk’s DEX acquisition rate had risen more when he was in the ‘zone’ and did his job continuously. In any case, Minhyuk was very happy to hear that. Then, he said, "Well then, I'm going back to eat some fruit and celebrate." 

Minhyuk swayed and wriggled his butt again as he entered his Athenae capsule. Meanwhile, Changwook recalled something. He thought, 'I seem to recall that players will receive benefits once they reach 400 DEX…’

***

Bran was completely shocked and astonished. He thought, 'This is too ridiculous…' his body trembling. He was looking at the branches of the huge trees that grew from the seven seeds that Minhyuk had planted. Each of those branches had a fruit shining brightly, covered with some sort of light.

The light glowing from the fruit was only visible to Bran. This light represented how much effort the player had given to the seeds. In fact, reaching 50% was already considered to be a difficult task. However, if the player failed to achieve 50%, then the fruit would only become a little special, and more delicious than other fruits. The effects of the fruit would increase correspondingly when the light reached 60%, 70% or higher. It might sound easy, but it was definitely not an easy task. Even Bran himself could not guarantee that he could reach 60%. 

Hard work was important but to raise the percentage, one had to cherish the seeds. Right now, the fruits that the seeds had borne were reflecting various colors, speckled with golden light. This phenomenon meant that the percentage of effort was more than 90%. This was the reason why Bran could not believe it. Just then, Minhyuk logged back inside.

"Doo doom chit! Doo doom chit!" Minhyuk sang happily as he swayed his butt to his own rhythm. Then, he shouted loudly, "Hello! I'm back!" 

"Y, yeah. Boy, today's the day that you'll be leaving, right?" 

"Yes! Hohoho. But, I have to harvest my fruits before I go," Minhyuk answered, face filled with anticipation. However, Bran just smiled awkwardly at him. 

"What's wrong? Why do you look like that?" 

"N… nothing," Bran said, speechless. He could not believe that someone would work hard and give their full effort, while still making sure to give enough care and affection to the seeds. Looking back, he realized that Minhyuk had always pampered and cared for the seeds whenever he was not digging or cooking.

Minhyuk quickly approached the seven trees in anticipation. The fruits were all in different sizes and were covered in a shell similar to coconut shells, which made it hard for him to determine what the fruits were. 

"You can just reach your hand out and say 'harvest' to get the fruits." 

Minhyuk followed Bran's instructions. He reached his hands out towards the trees and said, "Harvest." 

[Would you like to harvest the fruits?] 

[Yes / No] 

"Yes." 

Plop—

The fruit that was just on the tree suddenly fell down on its own, before flying straight towards Minhyuk, landing gently on the ground in front of him. Then, cracks appeared in the middle of the coconut-like shell, until the parts fell down on both sides.

Plop, plop—

The fruit inside of the shell was finally revealed, and its appearance had Minhyuk in shock.

"Waaaaaaah…" Minhyuk exclaimed in admiration. It was a delicious watermelon!

"I… it's a watermelon...!" 

"Yeah. The watermelon looks really delicious." 

"Ah. Good. Great. Watermelon. Applause![1]" 

"...?" 

"You don't know this song?" 

"Boy, I don’t know what you’re saying! Just go after you finish clapping." 

"Hmph!" 

"Ahem!" 

The two of them coughed in embarrassment after making bad jokes. Then, Minhyuk checked the watermelon's information. 

(Harvested Watermelon) 

Ingredient Grade: C

Special Abilities:

•Acquire 30 DEX. 

•Acquire 30 WIS. 

•Tastes much better compared to normal watermelons. 

Description: Your hard work and love for the seed have paid off. You truly have the qualities of an excellent and true farmer.

"The description… said that it tastes better than normal watermelons!”

"Yeah? What abilities did you get..." 

"Wow! I wonder how delicious it is if it's much better than normal watermelons?! The normal watermelons are already delicious!" 

"Look at the abilities!" 

"What abilities…" Minhyuk said, shaking his head as he continued, “It’s not that bad~”

Minhyuk thought that acquiring 30 DEX and 30 WIS was alright. However, the abilities paled in comparison to the effect of having a better taste. Then, Minhyuk checked the next fruit. It also appeared once the shell split on its own. 

"S, strawberry!" 

(Harvested Strawberry) 

Ingredient Grade: C

Special Abilities:

•Acquire +10 for all five basic stats.

•Can increase the level of a general attack skill by one.

"Aaaaah!" Without any hesitation, he picked it up and opened his mouth the moment he saw the strawberry, which was the size of his head. It looked red and ripe, with its seeds gleaming with a black light. He opened his mouth wide and chomped on the luscious and juicy strawberry.

"Chomp!" 

Chew, chew—

Minhyuk was in absolute bliss as he savored the sweetness of the strawberry, as well as the texture of the black seeds embedded in its flesh. The more he chewed, more juices spread in his mouth, and the more he felt refreshed. Anyone who saw Minhyuk eating a strawberry the size of his head would be surprised to see him eat it without cutting it into pieces.

Chew, chew—

Minhyuk kept on eating the strawberry. 

"...Y… you look like a hippo," Bran said. It seemed like Minhyuk had gone from being an elephant to being a hippopotamus, in Bran’s mind.

Minhyuk ate the entire strawberry in one go. The strawberry looked to be around four kilograms in weight, but it was finished in one sitting. Then, he stopped in horror before crying out, "I’m, I’m an idiot!" 

"What's wrong?" 

"Sob. I wanted to eat the delicious strawberry fruit juice, strawberry cake, strawberry macaron, and strawberry sandwich! I’m an idiot!" Minhyuk wailed. The strawberry was so delicious, but he regretted eating it on the spot. He calmed down soon enough and thought,  'It's okay, Minhyuk. You still have a watermelon.' 

He quietly wrapped the watermelon with its shell again to give himself some semblance of control. He planned to eat half of the watermelon as it is, while the other half would be made into a fruit punch! Then, a string of notifications popped in his head. 

[You have eaten Harvested Strawberry.] 

[You have acquired +10 in all five of your basic stats.] 

[Please select a general attack skill.] 

When it came to attack skills, he only had one. So, he did not have any other choice whatsoever.

“Bardy Swordsmanship.” 

[Bardy Swordsmanship has leveled up.] 

[You have mastered Bardy Swordsmanship.] 

[Chapter 1. As a reward for mastery, the attack power of Vital Strike will increase by a large margin.] 

[Chapter 2. As a reward for mastery, the Three Consecutive Quick Assault will deal additional damage.] 

[Chapter 3. As a reward for mastery, the increase in stats and duration of Bardy Swordsmanship will be greatly increased.] 

The rewards for mastery referred to the additional rewards that the player would receive once they mastered a skill. Just like in the notifications above, players would usually receive 3% additional attack power once they mastered the skill. 

Minhyuk quickly checked his skills window. 

The first chapter, Vital Strike, had received a 28% increase in attack power. The second chapter, Three Consecutive Quick Assault, had received an additional 10% attack power for each of the three attacks that the skill would incur. And for the third chapter, Bardy Swordsmanship, the duration of the skill was increased to ten minutes while the stats could now increase by 20 points. 

After checking his skill, Minhyuk continued to harvest the rest of his fruits. 

[The shell cannot be broken at your current level.] 

[The shell cannot be broken at your current level.]

Sadly, the remaining fruits could not be opened at his level. However, Minhyuk still checked on their information. 

(Harvested Fruit)

Requirement: Level 80

Ingredient Grade: Sealed

Special Abilities:

•Sealed 

•Sealed 

The rest of the fruits each had a ten level difference in the requirements. Minhyuk was able to increase his level during his stay in this dungeon. He was already at Level 79 right now. The increase in his level was truly tremendous. Assuming that a player would get an additional 500 EXP every time they leveled up, the amount needed to increase their level by one would still be staggering. After all, each level up would have an increase in the required amount of EXP.

'I need to be at least at 120,' Minhyuk thought. Only after reaching this level would he be able to eat all of his fruits. 

"You worked hard." 

"Yes. Thank you for everything." 

"Boy, I believe that you will become an excellent farmer." 

"Yes. I hope that I get the chance to see you again next time!" Minhyuk shouted as he bent his body and bowed at a ninety-degree angle. There were a lot of things that he felt apologetic for. After all, he ate all of Bran's potatoes and sweet potatoes! However, Minhyuk was still a man with a conscience.

Minhyuk approached Bran and whispered, "I left you some potatoes." 

"Oh, really? Thank you. Ah, boy. You said that you will be going to Emperor City on a carriage, right?" 

"Yes." 

There was a level requirement for teleportation. Players below Level 100 could only teleport forty kilometers away from the village that they came from. Players from Level 100 to Level 200 could only teleport and travel freely anywhere inside their empire. Only players above Level 300 could freely travel from empire to empire. This restriction was set in hopes that Athenae players would go out to explore and experience various places inside the game.

"Then, I’ll be going!" Minhyuk said, smiling happily and waving goodbye. 

‘I also have a conscience!’ Minhyuk thought. It was because of this ‘conscience’ that he left some potatoes for Bran.

Once he disappeared, Bran went to his potato field. He muttered to himself, "Yeah, of course that brat must have some conscience too!" 

Bran saw Minhyuk as a polite and good boy. He might be a strange one for eating all of his sweet potatoes, but Bran felt like Minhyuk was still kind enough to at least leave him with potatoes. 

Alas, when Bran arrived in his potato field…

"...This was what you left because of your conscience?!!!" 

…the potato field was already turned upside down, with only a steaming and well-cooked potato left in the middle of the field. The problem was that there was only one potato there. Not a box, or a few, but one! Bran was unaware, but Minhyuk had been conflicted at the thought of leaving a potato behind.

Bran wanted to shout.

‘You might as well have eaten my hands too!’ 

However, Minhyuk felt like he had already gone above and beyond since he left a potato for Bran. Then, Bran saw the note that Minhyuk wrote after picking up the only potato he had left behind. 

[Potatoes are really the best food in rest-areas!] 

Bran sighed deeply after reading the note. He looked at the potato in his hand and munched on it before saying, “...Delicious.” Then, he suddenly laughed loudly for a while. 

"It looks like a wild boar came and went to this farm. No… he's worse than those guys." Bran mumbled to himself before sighing once again.

1. This is a direct translation of part of the lyrics of Super Junior’s song, Rokuggo ☜

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