Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

You think that Twilight Chef Black’s buffed dishes are not that good?

No. Black, the Twilight Chef, was clearly an outstanding chef. He was even considered as one of the top chefs in the world. Even the buff increase, the storage period and the preservation time of his dishes were ridiculously high. In fact, Crow had experienced it in person.

“Are you serious?”

Ace was the one who asked the question. In all honesty, this was the normal reaction when they heard Minhyuk’s words.

Minhyuk had checked the information regarding Twilight Chef Black’s dishes on the official homepage of Athenae. Based on what he had seen, using the same rank of ingredients he had a lower amount of buff compared to what Minhyuk cooked before.

“Yes.”

“Uhm……”

The guild members hummed in disagreement while Genie interjected.

“Crow-nim, why don’t you taste Minhyukie’s dish first?”

“Then, let’s do that.”

In a way, it felt like he was taking one for the team. However, in reality, Crow preferred solitude. He would even buy other people’s buffed dishes if he was not able to buy Twilight Chef Black’s dishes.

‘Good. Let’s see. I wonder what delicious food I’ll be able to eat through Crow-nim?’

Since Minhyuk could eat with him, he used his Create a Recipe Skill.

[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

[You can now check the recipe for curry rice.]

[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

‘Ooooooh. Curry rice!’

Minhyuk smiled slightly.

Curry rice. It was the yellow-ish steaming dish with plenty of vegetables and meat. Eating a spoonful of this with rice would allow you to taste various flavors that were in harmony with each other!

Minhyuk quickly checked the recipe.

(Curry Rice Recipe for Crow)

Required Ingredients: Red Pig’s Tenderloin, Curry Powder, Avin’s Broccoli, Onions, Moonlight Potato, Carrots.

Expected Dish Grade: Unique~Legendary

Expected Effects:

━ Dramatic increase in Crow’s EXP Acquisition Rate.

━ Great increase in Crow’s Spearmanship Mastery.

After Minhyuk checked it…

‘It was the same as last time too……’

He felt that the Create a Recipe Skill was truly amazing. From what he had seen, it seemed like the buffs in the dish that would be created were something that the person truly needed at that exact moment. To prove his thoughts correct, he asked Crow.

“By any chance, is Crow-nim desperately trying to level-up these days?”

“……That’s right.”

“As expected.”

“What was expected?”

Genie was quite confused so Minhyuk explained it in detail.

“I can see a recipe that the other person wants the most.”

The Create a Recipe Skill was literally like that. It would show Minhyuk what the other party liked or wanted to eat the most. Then, Minhyuk said…

“Crow-nim, do you want to eat some curry?”

“H, how did you know that?”

A few days ago, Crow wanted to eat some curry so badly. However, Crow was a man who lived all by himself so the only curry that he could eat was the 3-minute instant curry pack. But what he wanted to eat was real curry, the one with potatoes, carrots and meat and not just that instant curry.

“And you like broccoli in your curry, right?”

“Heok!”

Crow looked at him as if he had seen a ghost.

Broccoli in curry was a debatable ingredient. However, it was something that was entirely dependent on the person’s taste. But it was entirely clear to Minhyuk when he saw the recipe created for him.

“Th, that’s right.”

“But Minhyuk-ah, how did you know that Crow-nim desperately needed to level up? In fact, Crow-nim had quite a low level compared to the others in the guild.”

The bounty hunter, Crow! He was someone who was more interested in bounty hunting than increasing his level. However, he was a great damage dealer and he was necessary for the group. But these days, the effect of his damage was almost negligible since his level was low. This was also the reason why Crow thought of increasing his level in the Northern Continent for a bit.

“Because there’s a buff that’s related to increasing the level for Crow-nim in the dish that I will make.”

“Oh. That’s good.”

Crow looked like he was satisfied when he heard that part.

“By any chance, can you bring me the ingredients that I will say?”

“Yes.”

“Red pig’s tenderloin, curry powder, Avin’s broccoli, Moonlight potato, onions and carrots.”

“Huh…… Uhm, wait……”

Crow looked flustered when he heard the ingredients.

The carrots, onions and curry powder seemed like they were normal ingredients. However, the other ingredients sounded unfamiliar to them. But they knew that he would have only said it if it was an ingredient that could be found in Athenae.

Crow quickly searched for the ingredients. He first looked for the red pig’s tenderloin.

The red pig was a pig that only grows in Adred Village and is an A-rank ingredient. It was said that it was juicier compared to other meat and its texture was soft and chewy.

Then, there was Avin’s broccoli, it was said that it could only be obtained from Avin. Avin was a man who had been growing broccolis for four generations. And the moonlight potato was a mysterious potato that was nurtured and grown under the light of the moon.

“Th, these ingredients. Are there more simpler ingredients?”

Crow was a bit embarrassed since he did not expect that the ingredients were a bit more expensive than what he had initially thought. If he failed then he would lose money. And that was something that he couldn’t afford.

“Well, if you don’t have the ingredients then we can replace them with regular ingredients. But the maximum dish grade will drop and the buff effect will also drop. Ah. I should also let you know that you can only taste my dishes once per month.”

“Hmm……”

Crow looked around when he heard that the buff effect would also drop.

“Do you guys have any of these ingredients?”

“Huh? I think I have Avin’s broccoli?”

Locke answered him as he rummaged through his inventory. After looking through, he pulled out a broccoli with a ‘Tadah!’ and showed it to them.

“It’s here!”

“Oooooh. Locke. Thanks!”

“Just thanks? Pay up.”

“……I’ll pay you with our guild member’s D.C.”

Crow first grabbed Avin’s broccoli from Locke. He said that he received the broccoli from a strange quest and that Avin’s broccoli had a strange ability wherein it would not be spoiled or damaged even after a long time. Avin’s broccoli was an A-ranked ingredient and since it was a material then it was not owned by the guild and their guild members.

“Then, take this one first.”

In fact, Crow wasn’t really expecting much.

‘I’ll just pay the price of the Avin’s broccoli first…..’

He traded Avin’s broccoli with Locke for 20 million gold.

Minhyuk nodded his head and began substituting the rest of the ingredients with regular ones. After he had finished with that, he finally began to cook.

The rest of the members of Legend Guild were originally going to hunt or look for quests but they stayed back and watched him cook since Minhyuk was so confident with himself and based on his tone it seemed like he truly believed that Chef Black’s cooking was truly nothing.

If he did not meet their expectations then he had to pay the price.

‘I wonder how much the satisfaction level will increase with this?’

This was what Minhyuk thought as he started his cooking. However, the satisfaction level was just the satisfaction level, what he was truly looking forward to was eating curry. After all, the dish contained Avin’s broccoli.

The first thing he did was season the pork tenderloin with 1 tablespoon of cooking wine, 2 pinches of salt, and some pepper. Then, he cut the potatoes and carrots into small cubes while mincing the onion and cutting the broccoli into bite-sized pieces.

After finishing all of his preparations, Minhyuk greased his pan with cooking oil and heated it with fire. He also sliced the seasoned pork tenderloin before placing them inside the frying pan.

Sizzle!

Once the pinkish meat had turned white from cooking, he added the vegetables and stir fried them together.

[This is the best time to add water and curry powder.]

The Food God’s Cooking Skill assisted him again today. Were you wondering why? Perhaps it was because the cooking felt a bit more special today compared to other days. 

There was also the delicious curry.

He knew of a better way of eating curry but he felt that the other members of Legend Guild were still a bit wary and distrustful of his skills so he refrained from telling them. He felt it more especially from Crow, the person who he was cooking this dish for. He really wanted to feed him delicious curry to prove it to him. Of course, it was also because he could taste it with him so he was doing his best for this dish.

Minhyuk poured water in the pan before adding the curry powder and letting it boil. Once the powder was completely dissolved in the boiling water, he could feel it began to thicken as he stirred the dish.

[This is the best time to turn off the heat.]

The magical ability that was attached to Minhyuk’s frying pan automatically turned off after the notification.

The curry rice was finally finished.

The spectacular colors of the vegetables in the bright yellow curry could make anyone’s mouth water.

At that moment, a series of notifications rang in his head.

[You have completed a Curry Rice.]

[Crow’s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

[The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

[Trance. It’s a dish that has your ‘soul’ poured into it.]

[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has become better.]

[Unique Grade.]

[You have gained 2 DEX.]

[You have gained 4 reputation points.]

[You have gained 400 Achievement Points.]

Just like before, the passive skill Trance had also appeared again. Triggering the skill Trance was quite difficult since there were different mindsets and circumstances whenever chefs cook. When he cooked for Chef Len before, Trance was triggered because he felt that he wanted Len to be happy and regain his lost sense of taste with the first dish that he made. Right now, it seemed like it was triggered because he wanted to feed him delicious food and prove to them his superb skills and make them ‘feel the joy of cooking’.

Buff effects are better when Trance is triggered!

After confirming this fact, Minhyuk smiled.

‘With this……’

He will definitely be satisfied.

“Wow. It looks really delicious!”

“I, I just want to eat the meat right there.”

The guild members of Legend Guild were in awe as they looked at the piping hot curry over the steaming rice.

Curry rice was usually served in large quantities but this dish was made only for Crow!

“Well then, we can’t leave out the kimchi, pickled radish and seaweed.”

“Kghk! Minhyuk-nim, you have the same taste as me!”

Crow’s heart was beating wildly. He couldn’t wait to taste the dish. He also preferred having kimchi on top of his curry. And most of the time, the flavor would change if he wrapped the curry rice in seaweed.

But before he ate it, Crow first checked the dish’s information.

‘Shall we look at the buff effect that he’s boasting about?’

(Curry Rice)

Material Grade: A

Rank: Unique

Restrictions: Only Crow could have the buff effects.

Storage Time: 12 days

Preservation Time: 12 days

Special Effects: 

━ +2 on your Spearmanship Mastery

━ +23% on your EXP Acquisition Rate

Description: A dish made solely for Crow. This dish had the power from Chef Minhyuk’s Trance which enhances the effect of the buffs.

“……!”

Crow was left speechless as his body started shaking.

“Huh? Huh……”

He was holding a spoon earlier in anticipation but his hold on it loosened unknowingly and the spoon dropped on the ground.

Clang━

This is impossible. I can’t breathe.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

“W, what’s wrong? Crow hyung!”

“C, Crow?”

The guild members looked at him curiously as Genie smiled slightly.

‘I know that feeling better than anyone else.’

When she first saw the dish made by Minhyuk, she also couldn’t believe her eyes.

Not long after, Crow finally opened his mouth.

“Th, the buff…… is really high. A +2 on my spearmanship mastery and my EXP…… my EXP……”

The words were stuck in his throat. He couldn’t bring himself to speak with how unbelievable it was. He paid 4 platinum coins before to eat a dish that gave him a 13% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate for 8 days. However, the dish in front of him right now had given him twice the amount of the buff he received for half the price. Earlier, he completely ignored what Minhyuk said believing in what the guild members of the Louvert Guild said as ‘the price of the ingredients are expensive’. Back then, the dish made by Twilight Chef Black also had A-ranked ingredients. It had at least around 2~3 A-ranked ingredients. He knew this since users could see the rank of the ingredients used in the dish. However, Minhyuk clearly used only one A-ranked ingredient to exhibit such an effect.

“C, Crow…… Tell me! What about the EXP?!”

Ace urged him. He looked down at the curry rice that Minhyuk made as he gulped down his saliva.

“The increase in the rate is up to 23%…… It also has a 12 days storage time and a 12 days prevention time. And my spearmanship mastery will also increase by +2!”

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

***

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