Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

‘S, so you were just acting earlier?!’

Minhyuk had never seen such an existence before.

Will it do anything for food? My god, it’s cheating everyone just to get something to eat?

This was Minhyuk’s first(?) time to ever see such a clever act played out just for the sake of food.

The little pig looked at Minhyuk seriously. Suddenly, the little piggy went near Minhyuk’s legs and tapped it with its little head. It looked like it thought of something and wanted to let Minhyuk know about it.

“Oink, oink!”

It was like it was signalling Minhyuk to follow it. The little baby piggy was giving off a cool aura. It was a bit absurd but Minhyuk still stood up to follow it. The only reason why he followed it was because the little piggy looked extremely confident.

The little piggy sniffed for a while before it continued to move forward.

‘Is it following a smell?’

Do pigs have such an acute sense of smell?

This small question floated in his head as the little piggy stopped in front of a blade of grass and tapped its head on it. It was as if he was telling him that this was it.

“You want me to check it?”

Minhyuk did not know why he followed the little piggy but he decided to check the unknown grass first before pondering over it deeply.

(Five-leaf Barbed Grass)

Material Grade: B

Special Abilities:

━ +1 on Magical Defense.

━ +1 on Magical Attack

Description: This is a barbed grass that tastes like spinach. It looks a bit like a four leaf clover and tastes good. However, this five leaf barbed grass is a special barbed grass. It’s a one out of a hundred existence.

“…..Huh?”

Minhyuk was quite surprised.

He harvested the grass himself but there was no notification about collecting a ‘special’ item because of his intermediate farming skill. This only meant one thing… This barbed grass was something that was not collected through the intermediate farming skill.

It truly was a five leaf barbed grass!

Not long after, the little piggy protested with an oink!. It seemed like it wanted to exchange the five leaf barbed grass with a hotdog.

‘No. Right now, I need to experiment.’

Minhyuk realized that the little piggy was much more special than what he thought. When the pig realized that he still wouldn’t give it anything, it grumbled and moved quickly towards somewhere. When it sensed that Minhyuk was not following, it looked back at him and jerked its head as if to encourage him to follow.

Twitch!

It was as if it was saying that he was not a pushover so he would find him something better. The little piggy guided Minhyuk to another place. It pointed him towards a fruit that looked extremely appetizing.

“Oink, oink!”

The little piggy pointed its nose towards the fruit. Minhyuk also checked the information of the fruit.

(Hatchling’s Apple)

Medicine

Special Abilities: +50 WIS

Description: An extremely delicious apple that has grown after absorbing the mana from a Hatchling’s body.

“……!”

Minhyuk was surprised.

Then he heard the pig squeal in laughter. He was more surprised when he realized that the pig laughed at him.

‘Don’t tell me?!’

An idea brewed in Minhyuk’s mind as he looked at the pig intently.

‘Does it have the ability to find ingredients and materials like medicine?’

Obviously, there were plenty of monsters here with varying classes and species. There were even rare ones that no one had ever laid their eyes on yet. Just for this reason, Minhyuk thought that it was truly possible.

Minhyuk quickly picked up the Hatchling’s Apple and ate it all at once.

Crunch, crunch!

The Hatchling’s Apple tasted extremely delicious. Minhyuk felt that apples were much better for him compared to salads. When he ate an apple, he wouldn’t need to cook or mix but he would still be able to eat something delicious.

[You have eaten a Hatchling’s Apple.]

[You have gained +50 WIS.]

Minhyuk nodded his head happily. While he was enjoying the taste of the apple, something snapped at him.

“Oink?”

The pig looked at him sadly reminding him that he had forgotten about something. Minhyuk cut a piece off of the hotdog and handed it over the little piggy.

Give and take!

Then, the little piggy took a bite and its eyes widened in surprise. Its little tail wiggled and it jumped up and down as it squealed. The little piggy suddenly jived and went into his own rhythm.

Just like what he saw earlier, the little piggy liked to ride in its own rhythm once it tasted delicious food.

It looked back at Minhyuk once again.

Smileeeee━ 

The little piggy smiled delightedly at him.

From that moment on, this strange relationship between Minhyuk and the little piggy had started.

He continued to observe the pig since he did not know where it came from. It was then that he found out that even though the little piggy was not able to find any medicine like the one from before, it was still able to find precious and special ingredients.

Just to be careful, Minhyuk used the last chance that he got to check the information of the little piggy.

(Baby Pig)

Rank:  ???

Race: Pet

Level: 1

Attack Power: 102

Defensive Power: 163

Summoning Duration per Day: 1 hour

Summoning Waiting Time: 23 hours

Special Abilities: They will find delicious ingredients and sometimes rare, excellent medicine.

Condition for Growth: The more delicious the food the owner eats, the higher the EXP and the higher the level it could evolve.

Potential: 184

Experience Value: 0% / 100%

“……What’s this, so unusual?”

Unusual, just like that word, this monster was unusual. Furthermore, it’s rank had ‘???’ written on it. And its special ability was the same as what Minhyuk had expected it to be.

Find delicious ingredients.

This was by no means a common special ability. When Minhyuk was observing the little piggy, it even found a medicine. There were even some special ingredients that it found. Of course, half of it was because this place was filled with special ingredients but in fact it was still a difficult task to find delicious ingredients and special medicine even in a place like this. In addition, it also had a potential of 184.

“What’s with the 184 in its potential?”

The potential of a pet had a huge effect on them. It would play an important role and determine how much more it would grow and evolve. Generally, if the pet had a higher potential then it would have a higher growth rate which would mean that the pet would become better as it leveled up.

‘The highest potential that I know of is probably at…… around 101?’

The gap was much bigger than what he had thought.

What in the world is this pig?

However, he still liked it very much.

“Find delicious ingredients……”

The merit was extremely huge. What was more surprising was the fact that its level, abilities and EXP would increase if the owner ate something delicious. In other words, whenever it leveled up, then it would gain more abilities compared to right now.

That was not all.

What if we find some medicine?

Minhyuk’s concerns were not that deep.

He chose the baby pig.

Him choosing the baby pig was not only because it could find delicious ingredients. The hatchling was obviously much more powerful right now; perhaps he could even fight toe to toe with the rankers right now if he had it by his side. However, the rankers would eventually level up and grow up.

What if they reached Lv600 in the future?

Then the hatchling would not pose any threat to them at all especially since it was not able to evolve any further. In contrast, the potential of the baby pig was tremendous. He did not know what it would evolve into in the future. In addition, it could find him delicious ingredients. Compared to a hatchling, the potential was endless.

Minhyuk did not know if choosing the hatchling would allow him to speed up the process of him finding delicious ingredients but it would definitely not allow him to find delicious ingredients right away. In comparison, the baby pig had the chance to evolve even if he did not know what it would grow into.

And you might not know?

‘What if it grew up and one of its special abilities would say ‘It has grown up well, you can now eat it’? Huhuhuhu.’

In fact Minhyuk was so simple that he would choose everything that was related to food. In other words, he might not know the result but it was possible that he would be able to eat the baby pig later.

[Do you wish to select the Baby Pig?]

“Yes.”

[The Baby Pig belongs to the Pet race.]

[Would you like to rename the Baby Pig?]

A name change.

Minhyuk thought hard about it.

“Little Piggy?”

[The Baby Pig hates it.]

“……”

Minhyuk looked at the baby pig with a puzzled expression. The little guy stood up on its two feet and climbed on top of his shoulder. It wasn’t that heavy since it was just the size of a fist.

“Hmm. What do we have? You’re color pink so…… Pink Piggy?”

That’s right.

Minhyuk had the worst naming sense out of everyone!

[The Baby Pig hates it.]

Of course the baby pig would hate it.

“If you don’t like these names then I’m sure you will also hate Oinky……”

[The Baby Pig hates it.]

“Hmm……”

Minhyuk pondered deeply.

“Of course you shouldn’t be named fatty…… then, Kongie? Ah, Kongie is a dog’s name……”

“……?”

[The Baby Pig is pleased.]

In Minhyuk’s view, the baby pig had a bad sense of naming. But it had already chosen for itself, so what could he do?

“I, I choose Kongie as its name.”

[You have chosen the name Kongie for the Baby Pig.]

[Kongie is in a good mood.]

“Ooiink~”

Kongie was smiling happily. Then, it fell asleep on Minhyuk’s shoulder.

‘I can summon it for 1 hour every day.’

He believed that this time would increase as soon as it grew more.

[The Pet Selection has finished. You will now return to where you were originally summoned from.]

Flash!

A bright light covered his eyes.

***

When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he realized that the Phoenix Lord Chronicle was gone and Balzarc was the only one that was waiting for him.

Balzarc looked closely at Kongie, the pet that Minhyuk chose.

“Why?”

“No. Out of all the monsters, why did you choose a pig?”

“Well, the potential was high and……”

Minhyuk explained to him his reasons as to why he chose this pet. Finding delicious ingredients, it was different compared to others, and finally the most important reason!

“You know what?”

“……What is it?”

“This pig grows up whenever I eat something delicious.”

Balzarc nodded his head at him.

“Why do people raise pigs and cows?”

“……To eat them?”

Balzarc nodded his head again.

“That’s right. Then, later……”

Whisper, whisper━ 

“I might be able to eat it.”

In fact none of the monsters were shining a black light. Of course, Kongie was not shining with a black light either but with its high potential, it might be able to change later.

“Emergency food.”

“Em, emergency food…… uhm……!”

Balzarc was looking at him with a look of utter bewilderment.

“Then, you should now give me what you promised!”

Minhyuk looked extremely excited.

Balzarc nodded his head as he waved his hand in the air. As soon as he waved his hand, the first Legacy Dish that was left behind by the Food God appeared. The Jokbal Set appeared in the air.

“Wow……”

Minhyuk was in awe.

The meat in the pork trotters were sliced thinly and laid on top of the bones with plump and juicy meat underneath! There were also the ssamjang, lettuce, garlic, kimchi, pickled radish, dongchimi and finally… the noodles.

“Hahaha!”

Minhyuk laughed heartily as he picked up a piece of pork trotter meat. He placed it in his mouth and savored the taste. The meat was chewy and light. He didn’t know if it tasted special because it was cooked in lava but it was delicious.

He swallowed the meat and…

“Wow……”

He couldn’t stop himself from letting out a gasp of surprise. He felt like his mind went blank for a moment.

It was really really delicious.

Of course, for Minhyuk who did not have any chance to eat jokbal for a long time, it was truly something delicious.

Whenever he was hungry at night and someone said… ‘How about some late night snack? Jokbal, call?’ he would be the first one to shout… ‘Jokbal!’. However, it was a food that was common for others but not for someone like Minhyuk.

He couldn’t believe that the jokbal that he hadn’t had in a while was so delicious. Then, he turned his head…

“Huh?”

Minhyuk saw Kongie on the floor eating jokbal too.

“……?”

“Oink?”

***

TL’s corner!!!

Welcome to the fam Kongie! I knew you would be selected. Hehehehehe. Our cute little piggy with our big piggy.

PR’s corner!

You know how animals start to look like their owners after a long time? Well, I’m not sure that’s possible here. They’re already practically identical.

ANNOUNCEMENT! 

I will be dumping all 3 chapters for this week today. I will be busy towards the end of the year so I won’t be able to do much. However, we will be back to 5 chapters starting next week! So see you in 2021 and have a safe, healthy and happy new year!

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