Gourmet Gaming

Minhyuk quickly analyzed their situation as he ran. There were exactly 11 Mini Trolls running towards them. From the fight earlier, Minhyuk already knew that the Mini Troll's magic did not have any effect on him. He thought, 'Compared to regular trolls, the actual power that a Mini Troll can exert is much lower.'

Originally, the Trolls were at Level 250, but it seemed like the Mini Trolls could only exert power equivalent to someone at Level 100. The only reason why the other players tagged them as troublesome and difficult was because they could use magic. However, Minhyuk already knew that it did not work on him.

[Ellie’s Swordsmanship.]

[All stats will have a 15% increase for 5 minutes.]

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

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

Ellie's Swordsmanship, just like Hepas' Legendary Frying Pan, had the ability to increase all of his stats by 15%. Then, Minhyuk thought, 'It seems like my Ellie's Swordsmanship is also improving. It will probably level up soon.' 

That was not all. Minhyuk had leveled up earlier, which brought his level to Level 97. He was able to receive a surprising amount of EXP even after he shared the EXP with Rovan when he killed the Mini Troll earlier. Not long after, Minhyuk leaped forward and slammed his frying pan on one of the Mini Trolls that was roaring loudly.

Clang! 

[You have dealt a critical strike.]

He quickly passed by the Mini Troll with its head smashed in before using Rampant Sword. 

[Rampant Sword.]

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

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang! 

The frying pan in his hand hit the Mini Trolls' heads one by one. It was so fast that it even left afterimages. The frying pan's attack power was at 400 and with the combination of Ellie's Swordsmanship, its attack power had increased exponentially! In addition, every time he hit a Mini Troll on the head, he could hear a clear and loud sound! 

"Sounds perfect!" Minhyuk said in awe.

Suddenly, a Mini Troll launched an ice ball magic towards him. If an ice ball successfully hit its target, it could easily freeze the surrounding area. Minhyuk quickly stopped in his tracks and slapped the ice ball away with his frying pan. 

[Magical Reflection.]

[You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

Bang! 

Crack, crack, crack, crack! 

The Mini Troll was hit back with the reflected ice ball, and became rapidly covered in ice. Minhyuk continuously slapped the magic attacks that were flying towards him with his frying pan. 

Clang! 

Clang! 

Clang! 

[Magical Reflection.]

[You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

Rovan also quickly joined the fray the moment he caught up with Minhyuk.

Slash! 

The feeling of his thick greatsword getting stuck in the Mini Troll did not come, instead, it felt like it slashed through. 

Slash! 

Fwoom!

Clang, clang! 

The two men were able to fight 11 Mini Trolls without being pushed back! 

[Berserker's Bloody Frenzy.] 

[You have a high chance of returning the damage inflicted on you when your enemy strikes you.] 

Rovan’s body glowed red as if he was proving that Minhyuk was not the only one that was strong in their party.

Slash! 

A Mini Troll tried to break Rovan’s armor with its ax but its hands quickly broke down. 

"Graaaaaaa!" 

The Berserker's Bloody Frenzy had returned the damage! 

[Greatsword's Linked Swordsmanship.]

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

Rovan easily lifted the large and heavy greatsword with one hand. He quickly struck out the Mini Trolls that were surrounding him. 

Slash! 

Slaaaaash! 

Slash! 

Slaaaash! 

Meanwhile, Minhyuk was quickly moving around and slapping the HPs of the Mini Trolls down to zero before they could even regenerate. 

Clang! 

"One shot!" 

Clang! 

"Two shots!"

Clang!

"Three shots!" 

Clang! 

"Woooo!" 

The two men quickly dealt with the 11 Mini Trolls. They turned to survey the surroundings to make sure that everything has been dealt with. Rovan also smiled when he saw Minhyuk smiling. It seemed like they were truly at an equal standing right now.

'Yeah. I admit that you're strong!' 

He was a chef but to think he was this skilled? However, Rovan believed that the real power of his Berserker class would shine from now on. It was not like Minhyuk was not attacked while he was fighting with the Mini Trolls earlier. The same was true for Rovan.

The difference was, Rovan had a clear advantage with his Berserker class in fights like this. Red beads suddenly formed and leaked from the bodies of the Mini Trolls. Then, those red beads floated and seeped through Rovan's body. 

Swish! 

As soon as the red beads were absorbed in his body, his minor injuries began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye. Smoke rose from his body as his wounds began to disappear. 

[Your HP has recovered by 2%.]

[HP absorption has failed.] 

[Your HP has recovered by 1%.]

[Your HP has recovered by 4%.]

[HP absorption has failed.] 

[Your HP has recovered by 6%.]

[Your HP has recovered by 4%.]

[Your HP has recovered by 5%.]

His HP had recovered by 22% in one fell swoop! A Berserker might look like it was just a frenzied warrior, but they were also known as the tireless warrior. This was one of the charms of the Berserker class. Every 20 minutes, the Berserker would automatically activate their regenerative skill to regenerate their HP. Rovan even bought a healing skill book for a billion gold. 

[Your HP has recovered by 14%.]

A bright light suddenly engulfed Rovan’s body. 

"Hey, isn't that the effect of a healing skillbook?" 

"Hey. It looks like it can recover 4% of the user's HP." 

Rovan chuckled when he heard the other players. This was an item that was worth a billion gold and could never be traded on the trading site, even if the bid was 50 million won in cash!

"Wow. Is that the healing skill book that I've heard of?" Minhyuk asked after he finished dealing with the item drops.

"Yes. I have recovered 36% of my HP right now. Hoho. This is one of the strengths of a Berserker. We can continue hunting for quite some time even if we don't have a healer." 

"Oh. Is that so?" Minhyuk asked as he grinned at him.

Rovan suddenly felt the chills when he looked at his smile.  He thought, 'What's this? Why is he smiling like that?' 

Then, he heard Minhyuk say, "Ah. I'm hungry." 

Rovan watched as Minhyuk pulled out a steamed bun from his inventory.

"Huh? Why is the steamed bun still steaming hot?" Rovan asked, unaware of Minhyuk’s Food Storage Inventory. Normally, food that was stored in the normal inventory would cool down like it was left out at room temperature. This was why he was looking at the steamed bun curiously. 

Minhyuk slowly bit on the steamed bun. Steam slowly rose as he bit on it. Then, as he gently chewed the steamed bun, the smooth and sweet flavor of the red bean paste slowly spread in his mouth. After swallowing his first bite, he opened his mouth and blew on the steam that was rising out of the steamed bun before taking another bite. 

"M…me too. Please give me a bite..." 

"No way!" 

"...Tsk!"

Rovan looked at him sullenly. Just then, he noticed something…

Shiiiiing—

…the small wounds littering Minhyuk's body were slowly disappearing. His body seemed like it was recovering rapidly. 

"...Huh?"

The wounds were closing and recovering at a remarkable speed. The other players around them might not notice any difference but Rovan was different. Rovan could see how fast Minhyuk's wound had been recovering. 

"...This is impossible," Rovan said. He could not think of anything to say. Just a moment earlier, he was bragging about his healing being something that was entirely special to Berserkers. But now… 

'How in the world did that happen? Is that steamed bun something special? Is it made by an alchemist?' 

Minhyuk smiled after recovering all of his HP and finishing his steamed buns. He said, "You said that you can continue to hunt for a long time, right?" 

"Yes." 

"Well. Do you think I can do the same?" 

"Yes. If you can keep eating that mysterious steamed bun…" 

For a moment, Rovan was quite confused. He did not understand why Minhyuk was asking him these questions.  Then… It suddenly clicked. He finally realized why he felt that his smile was quite ominous. He quickly said, "Ah. No. Wait. Let's do it after an hour..." 

"Bbiiiiiiiiiii!" 

"Ack!" 

Since Minhyuk knew that his party member was strong and could continue hunting for a long time, which meant that he could keep up with him. It was the best chance to rush to Level 150! Thus, Minhyuk wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.

Monsters began to flock to where they were. Their numbers were more than the numbers from earlier. That was not the end of it all. From a little distance away from them, Minhyuk suddenly stretched his frying pan. 

'This crazy punk... what is he going to do again...!'

At that moment, fire spread out from his frying pan. 

[Fire]

[Damage will be continuously inflicted once they touch the fire.] 

'Ah?! What the hell?! Are you a mage, a chef or a warrior?! This 3®$#[email protected]%@@%,' Rovan thought. He was completely confused. He saw Minhyuk quickly injuring the mob nearby as he used his aggro skill on more than twenty monsters. Initially, he thought that he would be the one using Minhyuk as an attachment during his leveling frenzy, but it turned out that he was the one who became an attachment. 

'He'll definitely get tired of this. He'll stop in two hours,’ Rovan thought, caught in his wishful thinking. 

***

Four hours later.

"Pl…please... Can we stop hunting for a moment?! There's no one in the world who would continuously hunt for four hours and not even take a break!" Rovan said, pleading desperately. He felt like someone who had stayed ten hours inside the public bathhouse, his exhaustion at its peak.

"Didn't you tell me earlier that a Berserker is like an energizer, and you will never get tired? You even have the recovery ability. What's wrong with you?" 

Rovan was very famous in Versal for his persistence and endurance when hunting. He could even clear dungeons at a speed that was insanely faster than the rest of the players. However, the only reason he could do that was because he kept on going when the others were taking a rest. 

However, no matter how determined or persistent he was, he really could not keep up with this madman. Rovan thought, 'Is this the reason for this guy’s strength and power? He might have dabbled in this and that… But, he always seems to push on without any rest at all.' 

Rovan was aware that Minhyuk’s level was lower than his level right now. Unable to take it, Rovan asked him, "Why are you going so far? Why don’t you take a break? Do you really want to become that strong?" 

Minhyuk turned to look at him seriously, before laying out his reason without holding anything back, "I want to eat ducks." 

"...What?"

"It's because I want to eat ducks." 

"N, no. You've already killed a lot of ducks!" 

"Ah! Hey!" Minhyuk shouted. He looked solemnly at Rovan and continued to say,  "We've only killed 40 Magic Ducks. It's just 40, it could easily slip away from our grasp. You don't know this, but if it’s only a few, then it would be gone easily. It will definitely break the momentum when I’m eating." 

"You've killed 40 already, and you're still thinking of your momentum…?!" 

Rovan wondered if that really made sense. Then, he paused, thinking about it long and hard, before nodding. He thought, 'Ah, maybe it really will...?' 

Rovan had seen Minhyuk take out six liters of gatorade out of his inventory and drink it in one go only to hear him say, 'Oh, I've finally moistened my throat.'.

"Phew. If that's the case, then we can take a break while I'm cooking." 

"Wow, finally…..!" Rovan said, deeply moved. He even bowed at a 90 degree angle to show his gratitude. Then, he continued to say, "Thank you. Thank you. I'm saved. Thank you." 

Rovan could finally take a rest! My goodness! He had been hunting for four hours straight! Of course, it did not escape him that he really did level up like crazy, In fact, during that four hours of pure torture, Rovan was able to increase his level by ten. However, he did not want to experience such a crazy thing again. 

To be honest, he was not complaining about the duration. Rovan’s main concern was the amount of monsters. He could still recall the bone-chilling dread that he felt when dozens of monsters appeared and attacked them from all sides. That feeling was something that he felt for four hours straight. At that time, Rovan clearly witnessed Minhyuk’s strength. 

At that moment, Minhyuk was preparing to cook while Rovan rested. 

"What are you going to make?" Rovan asked him with a look of anticipation. Minhyuk might be a crazy and strange person in Rovan's eyes, but he still acknowledged one thing. The food that Minhyuk made was really delicious! When he was out of breath and tired earlier, Minhyuk had shouted at him 'This pains my heart!', before tearing the bread from his hot dog buns and gave it to him. 

'No. If this person is truly generous, then he should have given me the hotdog too!' 

However, Rovan was extremely hungry at that time, so he quickly gobbled up the bread. Strangely enough, it was extremely delicious. From what Minhyuk had said, he was the one who made it. That was why Rovan was sure about his cooking skills. That was why he was looking at him excitedly. 

Minhyuk smiled meaningfully at him and told him what he was going to cook. He said, "Duck bulgogi."