Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

Chronicle’s thoughts were blank, it was as if his head had turned white at that exact moment.

My god! 

She was a noble existence. The Eivelis Empire even worshipped her, the Phoenix Lord. She was also a king who could command more than fifty phoenixes. But her body’s fire was used to grill hotbar?! She was overcome with anger.

Just a few days ago, she had seen him plowing the fields day and night to grow the seeds quickly. Then she realized…

Ah, wait. I’m grateful towards this human! He worked hard to save the monsters here! And I’m truly grateful for that.

“I thought you were better than the Food God of the past… but it seems like you’re not.”

The sinner, Minhyuk, took two steps back and bowed his head as if he was admitting his mistakes and waiting for his punishment. At the same time, he quickly tried to stuff the well-grilled hotbar in his mouth.

“I am!”

Screech!

Minhyuk stopped the skewer from moving towards his mouth further.

“I’m very grateful that you have worked hard day and night for these monsters.”

“……?”

He tilted his head in confusion.

What does she mean for the monsters?

Minhyuk couldn’t keep up with her thoughts.

“But I can’t believe that you’re wasting your time grilling food and eating it!”

“I…… that……”

“I’m taking a break because I’m almost done filling the fullness bar……”

He was quite dumbfounded with Chronicle and her outburst.

Her request period was only 2 weeks! In the first place, 2 weeks of time for all of these work were already not enough. It didn’t even make sense to expect him to do all the work in just 2 weeks.

But… but this human is lying to me to avoid the situation?!

“What a disappointment! I thought you were much better than the previous Food God Allen! I can’t believe you’re lying to me just to avoid this situation!”

“But it’s the truth!”

Chronicle snorted.

“The truth?! If it’s not the truth then I won’t be a phoenix from now on. I will be a chicken! A chicken!”

“But it’s the truth……”

“You’re still not repenting even when we’ve talked up to this point. I will check the egg myself.”

The growth of the egg was solely dependent on how much he had fed the monsters in the monster’s paradise. The Phoenix Lord, Chronicle, looked at it angrily. She thought that it would still be better if the fullness was less than 50%.

‘His lies have gone too far.’

She immediately checked the monster egg that was floating in the middle of the monster’s paradise.

(Monster Egg)

Rank: Legend

Race: Pet

Description: The fullness bar is almost full and the egg has evolved into a huge pet-bearing egg.

“……!”

Chronicle blinked her eyes dumbly. Then she kept on looking at Minhyuk and the egg alternately.

“Cluck, cluck?”

Minhyuk timidly hinted about the ‘I will be a chicken’ that Chronicle had told him earlier. Chronicle stubbornly double checked the information. She thought that she was just mistaken and needed to look at it again.

(Monster Egg)

Rank: Legend

Race: Pet

Description: The fullness bar is almost full and the egg has evolved into a huge pet-bearing egg.

Of course, the content of the information did not change.

She turned silent for a moment.

Then, she once again heard Minhyuk’s voice.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck……?”

Chronicle kept her mouth shut and silently looked at her surroundings. She finally realized the situation around her as her eyes wandered around.

The monsters have gone strange. The Twin Headed Ogre was leading the ogres and digging at the cliff.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

“Grrr. Just a bit more and we can eat delicious food!”

“Grrrgrrr!”

And even the orcs.

“Chwiiiiiik! Chwiiiiik! Just a bit more and we can eat delicious raw meat! Chwiiiik, chwiiiiik!”

All of the monsters in the monster’s paradise were working hard. They looked very tired but Minhyuk could whip them up in shape every time.

‘Sigh…… At this rate, I won’t be able to fill the fullness by 100%, I’m really sorry…… You’re all working hard but I still won’t have time to cook……’

The monsters who have heard this worked hard day and night. They even went as far as not sleeping. They were literally working to eat!

“……I don’t think I look like a chicken.”

Chronicle hummed at Minhyuk while Minhyuk’s eye sparkled brightly.

“Then, You should pretend that you didn’t know……” 

He quickly hinted at the skewers in his hands. Chronicle understood what he was trying to say, she shook her head in defeat.

Minhyuk peeked around quietly, then he grilled another set of skewered hotbars using Chronicle’s body fire! She looked at the grilling hotbars and sighed unconsciously.

After he finished grilling the hotbars, Minhyuk ate it deliciously.

“Chronicle-nim’s fire-grilled hotbar tastes similar to charcoal-grilled hotbar!”

“Ho, hoho.”

Chronicle just laughed at his words.

***

[Guild Master Genie: I’ll be right back~]

[Guild Chatting Khan: Take care. Don’t follow strangers even if they offered you candy.]

[Guild Master Genie: ㅗ Huh? Did you finally lose your screws?]

Khan grinned at her message.

Genie went alone to meet with Boroto, the former Chef Tower’s Tower Master, to take on the quest with the excellent buffed dish as a reward. Originally, the three of them should take it together but Khan and Locke were in the midst of leveling up.

The gap between rankers was not as wide as what anyone would think of. If the ranker was lazy and did not hunt just for one day then the rankings in Athenae would immediately refresh and reverse. They did not have the leeway to relax and rest in their hunting since they needed to maintain or improve their current rankings. In Genie’s case, the gap was too wide with the other rankers so she could easily go to the quest alone.

“Shall we go hunting now?”

The two of them stood together.

They have decided to use the Tower of Arrogance as their hunting grounds. The Tower of Arrogance would take quite a while before they could clear it. Once a user entered that place they wouldn’t be able to use any messaging tool, whether it be the guild chatting, party chatting or whispering. But it was the best hunting ground to silently increase their levels.

Khan chuckled heartily as they walked.

“But, what if… Really, just what if?”

“What is it?” 

Locke tilted his head in confusion.

“What if Genie and Minhyuk met, you know?”

Locke grinned at his words.

“No… I vote for ‘I don’t recognize you.’”

“That’s what you’d expect, right?”

Khan shook his head in laughter.

Genie had been 100kg when she was young, she would even proudly say her weight every day. However, she was now less than 50kg in weight. In fact, they were also surprised at one point. The ‘General Wild Boar’ that they used to call back in school was now a great beauty.

“I will add one vote to that too.”

Was what Khan said too.

***

Fullness at 95%!

He looked around and saw that all of the monsters were eating.

There’s only one monster left!

The only monster left was the king of this place, Chronicle.

Minhyuk had told her that he would cook for her once he finished eating his delicious hotbar(?). But in her case, she wanted to eat only after all of the monsters had been fed. He felt that there was a system in this place and that she was like the boss mob. You have to first hunt all of the small mobs in the dungeon before hunting the boss mob!

And he finally handed the huge amount of dishes that he cooked over to Chronicle.

It was the delicious rump yukhoe!

“It doesn’t suit my taste!”

Perfectly grilled ribeye steak!

“I don’t want to eat that!”

Braised chicken!

“……Boy, how am I supposed to eat this poor child?”

“Even a water purifier isn’t this tight……”

“What did you say?”

“N, nothing……”

The boss mob, Chronicle, was an extremely picky eater!

Even Chronicle said that she also did not know what she wanted to eat right now. Minhyuk almost jumped up and went crazy. He could meet with the subordinate of the Food God once he fed and satisfied Chronicle but she was being very picky.

Minhyuk pondered deeply.

‘Looking at Chronicle……’

She’s a bird.

Even if she was a Phoenix Lord, she was still a bird!

What he meant was simple.

‘Birds usually eat worms, caterpillars and larvae… right?’

They definitely like those wiggly creatures.

Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

The monsters in here could only eat food that has been harvested in the land of Salov.

He went to Athenae’s official homepage and searched for it.

[Land of Salovs. Caterpillars.]

To his surprise, a related article came up.

“Oh?”

[A picture of proof of a silkworm in a cave in the Land of Salovs.

cadad414: Oh. That black haired axe thing, is that the silkworm? It looks disgusting!

DoctorInsect: It’s me you fXcker!

cadad414: OMG…… I couldn’t tell which was which because you look like a bug…… Sry, sry. But you really look like an insect…… Yeah. It’s a compliment.

gfasfdd84: 2222

OnlyCarlo: 33333333

kvueu2h4: 44444444

Koongie’sDad: 55555555

MamaLucy: The resemblance is uncanny. Hehehehehehe]

Minhyuk smiled slightly at the unity of the commenters.

The picture was showing the scene of silkworms making white cocoons for themselves. The silkworms were as big as an adult male’s head. The silkworm’s thread was not broken once it started to make its cocoon. It seemed like there were about 1,500m of silk thread that spouted out of the silkworm just to make such a seamless cocoon. The cocoon was made to act like an egg shell to protect the silkworm as it went through the process of growth to become a moth. The silkworm’s thread was the raw material needed to make silk clothes and…

“Silkworm ramyeon……”

An idea passed through Minhyuk’s head.

He thought that if he would feed them at least once then he wanted to feed them the most delicious food that he could feed them. Since he had found a hint, he quickly moved to find the silkworm cocoons in the Land of Salovs.

***

Chronicle has not yet filled her stomach, however she still looked around.

The previously thin and bony monsters were now plump and chubby and they were even overflowing with strength and vigor!

Bam!

“Grrrr. This guy fainted!”

“It’s because he’s been digging in the cliffs day and night without a rest…… gulp……”

They were clearly overflowing with strength that they ended up overworking themselves.

‘If I eat too……’

It was something that was virtually impossible but once she looked at the egg, she could feel a very powerful force emitting from it. It was a power that was comparable to herself! But once he fed her, then that monster egg would grow even more powerful. And once he fed her he would also be able to acquire the armor that the Food God had worn himself before.

However, it was truly a difficult task. Chronicle was an extremely picky eater. Even Allen, the previous Food God, had a hard time trying to satisfy her tastes!

But, right now the current Food God is still unskilled and immature. Right?

Just when she was thinking of him, Minhyuk finally came back after going outside for a bit.

He was holding a mysterious round, white and dry thing that looked like it was wrapped with thread. It was as big as his fist. And once she looked at it closely, she could see that it was a pupa.

“Ho?”

Chronicle looked intrigued. It was because they looked like they were caterpillars.

Then, she saw Minhyuk pull the frying pan out of his back and drop all of the caterpillar-like things on it. After placing all of it, he proceeded to boil them down.

Blub, blub, blub!

Then, he added some kelp, garlic, onions and leeks before letting it continue to boil. He seasoned it with salt and waited for the water that he was boiling to go down. After he took out his portion out of the huge frying pan, smiled and handed it over to Chronicle. 

The pupae were black and steaming.

And Minhyuk……

“Beondegi, beondegi, beonbeon, degidegi. One beondegi, two beondegi, three beondegi!”

Muttered something completely unintelligible.

***

Minhyuk smiled contentedly at Chronicle after he had made the savory and flavorful pupae.

He looked at Chronicle and wondered if she would say that it was not delicious after tasting it.

Those were literally pupae.

In the past, back when Minhyuk was in elementary and middle school, whenever he joined a sports competition he would see the uncles outside with their trucks and selling their wares. And on their trucks it would say…

‘Beondegi, 1,000 won!’

Then, Minhyuk and his friends would go in front of the truck and would smile at the old man and say ‘Uncle, please give me 1,000 won worth of beondegi!’ after looking at the steaming, hot paper cup filled with pupae.

The uncle would give them a paper cup filled with beondegi together with a toothpick. However, they wouldn’t use any toothpick and would just pour it in their mouths little by little.

This is beondegi!

Minhyuk was able to make a memorable meal by accident!

And the ingredient that he used to make this beondegi was the silkworm’s pupa!

Chronicle tapped hesitantly with his beak on the frying pan that was filled with beondegi.

“Uhmm……”

Then, she opened her beak and bit on one. The savory flavor immediately spread in her mouth as soon as she bit on it. She felt that the more she chewed on it, the deeper and more savory the flavor became.

Her breath stopped for a moment as she looked at Minhyuk in surprise.

“De, delicious.”

“Hohohohoho……!”

Minhyuk also took a piece of beondegi and ate the one that was almost as big as his head.

It’s the taste in my memories!

Chronicle quickly finished all of the beondegi in the frying pan.

Then…

A series of notifications rang loudly…

[You have fed the Phoenix Lord.]

[The Phoenix Lord is really satisfied with the meal. You will receive better rewards.]

***

Food Discussion Corner

Beondegi (번데기) – literally translated as pupa, is a KR street food that’s made with the pupa of a silkworm. It is usually boiled or steamed and served with toothpicks. It’s said that it has a bit of a fishy and nutty flavor and is usually soft and juicy in the inside while its outside is crunchy af. Although it’s now a popular snack, it became prominent during the Korean War since the pupa has an excellent nutritional value and was extremely helpful in giving the people a stable supply of protein.

TL’s corner!!!

A day has come where I encountered a dish that I wouldn’t want to taste. However, this dish is usually a favorite of the older generation. I believe it’s something of an acquired taste, something that they have grown used to and loved. 

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