Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

31 Poisonous Toad King

“I’ve finished repairing it.”

“Hiyaa. Did it go well?”

Rovan was not able to hear the notifications about the repair so he was not aware that Minhyuk achieved the ‘best’ repair for his greatsword and he could only judge it based on its appearance.

Then, Minhyuk spoke…

“Do you want me to sharpen the edge too?”

“Yep. That would be good.”

“Sharpen!”

[You have achieved the best sharpening for Valo’s Bloodstained Greatsword.]

[The durability has increased.]

[The attack power has increased.]

After he finished the repairs and sharpening, Minhyuk handed the sword back to Rovan with a satisfied smile on his face. Rovan received the sword with a bit of hesitation.

‘The outside appearance looks good……’

The only reason why Ruan recognized the ‘best’ in the mines was because he had studied hard in preparation for his job 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 on this area yet. In a way, one could say that Ruan had a good set of eyes on him to be able to recognize Minhyuk and his ‘best’ repairs.

Rovan tilted his head in shock once he checked the information on the greatsword that Minhyuk repaired and sharpened.

‘Huh……?’

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

‘Huh……?!’

He was so shocked when he saw that the attack power had increased by +30. There was even a +1 on STR and +1 on AGI added on the special abilities section.

His weapons were usually repaired and sharpened by advanced level blacksmiths so he was not quite sure about what happened right now?

“B, by any chance… did the repair turn out to be the best?”

“Yes. I did it very well so it’s the best.”

“……I see.”

Rovan was completely shocked.

In all honesty, Minhyuk’s blacksmithing skill was much better than the advanced blacksmiths. Advanced blacksmiths wouldn’t be able to achieve the best repair so often. Also, Minhyuk had a high DEX and thanks to his special DEX privilege all of his skills related to DEX would have a x2 increase in effectiveness.

A thought had been constantly brewing at the back of Rovan’s mind since earlier.

‘Minhyuk-nim……’

I really want to pull this person in the Legend Guild. He’s an excellent dealer and has good fighting capabilities. He might be on par with rankers right now. His HP and MP are outstandingly high and he’s even a talented chef.

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

He believed that Minhyuk would be one of the top rankers once he fully developed. But before he could even finish that thought…

“It’s time to start our leveling spree again.”

Rovan could imagine another wild and crazy hunting would begin soon.

“Haa.”

He subconsciously let out a sigh of defeat.

***

Puhaaaaa!

They were able to easily and smoothly continue their hunt in the hidden field. They had been constantly hunting the poisonous toads.

Minhyuk slashed and cut down 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

Restrictions: Primary Level has no limits, the Secondary Level requires the user to be at Lv120.

Durability: ∞ / ∞

Attack Power: 311 + 50

Special Abilities:

━ +4 STR, +3 AGI

━ Skill: Dauntless Strike

Primary Level’s Special Abilities:

━ DEX acquisition x4

━ +40 DEX

━ Can be equipped with a sword.

━ Can automatically clean itself.

━ Can change to any type of cooking tools.

Secondary Level’s Special Abilities:

━ Skill: Retrieval

━ Skill: He Who Overcomes

━ x2 increase in Buff amount

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 30-m.

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 0. Your HP will increase by 1 and it will trigger 3 seconds of invincibility. All of your skills and abilities will increase by 30% in that time frame.

The Retrieval skill might look like it was just an ordinary skill but it was a useful skill especially when you are in the midst of battle.

For the He Who Overcomes skill, it was a last resort skill. Once your HP reached 0, you would be forced to log-out of the game. However, this skill would increase your HP by 1 and your skills and abilities would exert a stronger power while you were invincible for 3 seconds.

It’s not bad.

There was also the x2 increase in his buff amount. This would mean that Minhyuk would be able to make 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-m radius.]

[Party members within a 10-m radius will have a 12~14% increase in all 5 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 now 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!

“…Bueeeck!”

Staab!

“Buuueeeeck!”

[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 and leveling up spree.

At one point, Minhyuk’s level had already reached Lv148. 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 has a +3% increase in attack power.]

[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, there is also a +2% increase in the stat increase rate.]

[Chapter 4: Step allows you to take two steps instead of the initial one step.]

The first level up of a skill would allow you to see how the skill would develop in the future. The Sword of Fury would have a +3% increase in attack power every level. For Rampant Sword and Ellie’s Swordsmanship, they both had 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, he would now be able to take two quick steps instead of just one. 

He was quite satisfied with the increase in his skill.

“It seems like we’re almost done?” 

Rovan suddenly told him. In fact, it was already getting harder for them to find monsters now.

Then, at that moment…

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. It was even as big as a two-ton truck.

[The Great Mage Rafielt’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, it looked like an ogre was walking with how heavy the steps were.

When Rovan looked at the person beside him, he could see Minhyuk trembling all over.

“Mi, Minhyuk-nim……?”

This was the first time he had ever seen him in this state. He had never seen Minhyuk shake like that before.

‘Well, there were a lot of rumors circulating around about the Great Mage Rafielt who once terrorized the whole continent. And now the Poisonous Toad King has appeared!’

However, it was actually the opposite of what Rovan was thinking.

“Ro, Rovan-nim……”

“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 didn’t know what the hell was going on.

***

[The Great Mage Rafielt’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 Meal 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.

The moment he looked at the Poisonous Toad King, he was able to see a black light glowing from the body of the monster. That wasn’t 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, even if he ate monsters as food through his Eccentric Meal skill, 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 kkakdugi on top, right?’ 

He was shocked with what he thought. 

And that wasn’t all. Soy sauce had magical powers. Once you add soy sauce to seaweed soup, beef radish soup and various soup and stew dishes, it would make the flavor deeper and tastier.

Once Minhyuk reaches Lv200, he would be able to 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 through 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━

He 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. He would also remember 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.

His body trembled in excitement as he imagined the dishes that he would eat with the poisonous soy sauce.

“Mi, Minhyuk-nim…..?”

Rovan looked at him worriedly as the shaking Minhyuk looked at him.

“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.

At that moment…

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 Lv168 and the title would surely help him in the fight that was to come.

[Ellie’s Swordsmanship]

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

[Evasion rate has increased by 30%.]

[Fatal Strikes rate has increased by 30%.]

“I want to eat…… that poisonous soy sauce marinated crab……!”

His strong determination fueled his desire to battle.

“Minhyuk-nim, please, talk to me when you’re going to make your move! That guy’s poison would have 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 his armor when he got hit by the attack. What was more scary was the fact that he suffered from a pain that felt like his whole body was melting. If it weren’t for Minhyuk’s bandaging, he would have lost at least 20% of his HP with just that one hit.

What about the poison of the Poisonous Toad King?!

When he 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!”

The amount of poison that it spewed out was enormous. The poison was spewed so strongly 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.]

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

Sizzleeee!

White smoke rose from the frying pan.

***

TL’s corner!!!

I’m dreaming of crabs tonight. Yummy, fresh, and meaty crabs. *drools*

PR’s corner!

I’m with CC on this one. Those nice, mouth-watering crab legs…

ANNOUNCEMENT! 

This marks the end of our week-long catching up spree. We have some good news and bad news.

For the BAD news: Starting Dec 16, we will be reducing our updates to 3 a week until the end of December. This is so we can have some sort of break after this massive week-long release. We will continue our 5 chapters a week release by January 6th.

For the GOOD news: to celebrate our 100th chapter milestone we will be giving away 2 advanced chapters (Chapters 105 and 106) to ten lucky winners. The raffle will be held at our discord server so don’t forget to go there to join the raffle. Winners will be drawn by Dec 10, UTC 1:00AM.

Stay safe, keep healthy and see you on the 16th!

Report mistakes and chat with us at: https://discord.gg/Q3dStgu