Leveling Up through Eating

The guild members’ eyes all widened in surprise.

23%?!

A user could only receive such a huge percent of additional EXP acquisition rate during specific events. In fact, in order to increase the buff effect to that degree, a user would need to wear two ‘Growth Rings’ worth 300 platinum each. These growth rings had the ability to increase the experience by 5% each. In addition, you also need to eat a buffed dish made by the Twilight Chef, Black. But right now, such an effect was displayed for less than 1 platinum.

And there’s even a +2 on the spearmanship mastery?

Each class had an examination that would determine their rankings, if the user ranked high then they would receive a mastery passive skill. This mastery passive skill had a wondrous effect where it could increase the attack power, movement speed and attack speed whenever its level increases.

Crow’s spearmanship mastery was at level 7. And with the dish that Minhyuk made, it would be temporarily increased to Lv 9 and along with its temporary increase his attack power, movement speed and attack speed would increase by 8% temporarily.

“C, crazy……! Crow, don’t mess with us!” 

“Can you even think of White Beard’s death as a joke?”

“H, how can I think of something like that as a joke!”

“I’m also not messing around. All of you should take a look at it!”

When he heard Crow’s words, Ace hurriedly went in front of the curry rice. After he checked the dish, he took not only one but two steps back in shock.

Then…

Thud!

He fell down on his butt.

“C, crazy……!” 

Even the silver-haired Goddess of Battle, Ascar, who never changed her expression looked intrigued. She quietly loosened her crossed arms and approached the dish. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she looked at the dish and the ingredients used.

“I, I can’t believe this.” 

Her eyes stared straight at Minhyuk.

The guild members now finally realized that Minhyuk was not being arrogant and conceited when he said those words earlier. In fact, it could clearly be seen that Minhyuk’s dishes were far superior to anyone else’s dishes. If they compared the dishes made by Twilight Chef Black with Minhyuk’s dishes, it seemed that Black’s dishes were truly too shabby.

“I, I’ll eat this! Minhyuk-nim, I’ll pay you 10 platinum!”

“Huuuuh? I’ll pay 20 platinum!”

“30! 30!”

A 23% increase in EXP acquisition rate would give them the possibility to overtake and beat the previously high-rankers in the rankings. This was also the reason why all of them were so surprised. It would not be strange if the price would increase by a lot.

“It’s mine!”

Crow’s face crumpled in annoyance. After a moment, he smiled.

“This is a dish made for me!”

It was clearly labeled on the dish that it was specifically for Crow and the buff effect would only take effect if he was the one who ate it. The guild members finally showed signs of regret.

“Please take a seat, Crow-nim!”

Minhyuk did not care one bit about what the reaction and responses of the rest of the guild members were. He picked up the spoon that fell on the ground, replaced it with a new one and handed it over to Crow before urging him again.

“Ah. Yes.”

Crow’s face was filled with confusion as he sat down and placed the steaming curry rice on top of his manly fatherly legs. Then, as if on cue, the same curry rice appeared in front of Minhyuk.

“Hehe! Delicious curry rice!”

It was his special ability.

The guild members looked in surprise as they saw the curry rice appear in front of Minhyuk. Then, Crow picked up his plate and savored the deep and flavorful aroma of the curry rice in his hands. The strong smell of the spices was already making his mouth water endlessly and he couldn’t help but drool.

‘Wouldn’t it be great if this also tasted good?’

This was what he thought as he looked at the plump and glossy rice that was sitting on the side of the plate with the thick and savory curry beside it.

Without waiting any further, he picked his spoon up and carefully mixed the curry and the rice together. Then, he scooped up a heaping amount on his spoon before placing it in his waiting mouth. The unique aroma of the curry slowly spread in his mouth.

Then he chewed.

The thick curry sauce together with the plump rice, slightly ripe carrots and onions, broccoli and potatoes mixed together to create a beautiful harmony of flavors. The carrots were also not too soft nor too hard but still a bit crunchy which added a pleasant texture to the dish. The pork tenderloin was also chewy and juicy which rounded up the flavors of the dish.

“……”

Crow looked down at his curry rice for a moment.

It tastes…… special.

It’s thick and flavorful.

He only had one bite but he felt sorry for himself that he had not yet eaten it to his heart’s content so he mixed the dish thoroughly and ate another bite.

“Crow, say something!”

“Crow?”

But Crow did not answer them.

He was fully focused on adding a well-ripened kimchi on top of his mixed curry rice. After adding the kimchi, he carefully placed it in his mouth.

Crunch, crunch!

The crunchy kimchi with its sweet and spicy flavor had caught the taste that curry lacked and made it whole. He quickly ate another bite. However, this time it was with pickled radish. The combination of the sweet and sour pickled radish was also divine. Then, he wrapped the curry rice with the savory roasted seaweed. Since the curry was cooked well, this bite was completely savory and delicious.

It’s really delicious.

Crow ate it all in one go. He couldn’t help but reach his hands out for the pan. He quickly ladled out the remaining curry while Minhyuk scooped up some rice from his rice cooker and added it to the curry. The two of them ate and ate again.

Crow easily ate 3 servings in one sitting. He picked up a glass of cold water.

Gulp, gulp━

After gulping down the water, he banged it down and let out a breath of ‘Hwaa!’. Crow’s eyes closed in bliss as a small smile hung at the corner of his lips. He stayed like that for a moment…

Then, the moment he opened his eyes he spoke…

“My god. I have never tasted such a delicious curry rice in my life……”

He said this with all his heart. A person could experience plenty of emotions and feelings whenever they ate delicious dishes.

Ah, it’s delicious.

Ah, I really want to eat it next time.

I feel good since I have a hearty meal today.

And so on. However, there was one thing that he was sure of. And that was it made him happy and satisfied.

“Thank you Minhyuk-nim. It was truly delicious.”

Minhyuk looked up at him after he finished eating his curry rice. 

All of the guild members looked at him. Especially Locke. He was drooling all over as he looked at Minhyuk and his plate longingly.

“Waah. Me, me too…… I want to eat too.”

It has great buffs and it’s delicious too.

They felt that this was similar to the best restaurant since the food was both affordable, delicious and useful to them.

“Should I go next? Hoho!”

Locke swiftly and naturally raised this matter. Meanwhile, Ascar looked at him and frowned.

“No. It’s me, Locke.”

The usually silent and frigid Ascar spoke firmly for the first time.

Ace also spoke up.

“No. Hyungs and noonas! It’s the best time for me to eat and grow up, are you not going to give this chance to your lovely maknae?”

“No.”

“No.”

“No.”

“A, a straight refusal[1]……”

Ace was taken aback.

No, why are there people like this!

Genie finally mediated between the rest of them.

“I’m really, really sorry but I think one among the three of us should eat his dish next.”

The three people that she spoke of were Genie herself, Khan and Locke.

“Wow, Genie-noona! You’re so cheap!”

Ace looked completely sullen while the rest of the  guild members looked at her in confusion.

“We don’t have much time left, the dungeon needs to be cleared.”

“Ah……!”

“That’s right. Ah.”

Genie, Locke and Khan were trying to clear a dungeon. They wanted to take a video of them clearing that dungeon to show the world about the Legend Guild and the time for them to clear that dungeon was coming to an end.

Dungeons like this would pop out sometimes. If the number of failures increased and they still did not clear the dungeon then it would either disappear from that place or close permanently. The dungeon that they were challenging was just like that. And right now, the three of them needed to eat some buffed dishes to quickly clear the dungeon.

The rest of the guild members looked a bit disappointed.

However, at that time Crow suddenly shrieked.

“Aaaaaaack!”

“Heok?! W, what! What’s wrong?!”

“Don’t tell me there’s a side effect with the buffed dish?”

“Does he want to go to the bathroom?”

“D, damn.”

Crow looked like he wanted to cry.

“W, why did I only use one A-ranked ingredient…… If I used the rest of the ingredients, the effects would definitely have been more amazing!”

“Ah……”

“Uhm……”

The guild members understood Crow’s dilemma.

Minhyuk made it clear to them earlier. He said that they could replace the ingredients however the rank of the dish and the buff effects would definitely decrease. However, right now the meaning could also be interpreted differently.

“W, what…… If hyung used all of the ingredients that hyung listed earlier, what kind of dish would he make?”

“……”

“……”

The guild members all fell silent. Meanwhile, Minhyuk shook his head. 

“Considering the A-ranked ingredient that we have this time, the effects of the buffed dish were already good. We were also lucky to have a unique ranked dish.”

“But a unique dish came out this time, so is it possible for an epic or a legendary dish to come out?”

“I know, right? Of course. The better the rank of the ingredients the more likely you are to eat those ranked dishes. However, you should also keep in mind that you can only eat my dish once a month.”

The guild members all nodded their heads in understanding.

‘Wow, for real…… his abilities are really amazing.’

There was only one reason why the guild members thought like that…

If you bought an artifact from a blacksmith even if the quality was good, they would usually use it for a few months before asking for another artifact to be made again. On the contrary, what about these dishes? They would also eat it every month and they also have to pay for it handsomely.

Artifacts were of course much more expensive than dishes, but they would eventually reach their limit depending on the material used on them. How about Minhyuk’s dishes? There would be no limit to how much they could eat.

In addition, the people who have seen the buffs of his dishes even just once were definitely bound to come back again like junkies looking for their drugs. What if they got used to the 10% additional strength then the buff suddenly disappeared on them? They would definitely not get used to it. 

It was like Minhyuk’s worth jumped to 10 billion, no, to 1 trillion in just one dish.

At that moment, Genie suddenly decided.

“Among the three of us, can you cook for Locke first?”

“Woohoo!”

Locke laughed happily as Genie explained her reason.

“Locke’s heal effect is very strong. If his ability to put the enemy in a bleeding state becomes stronger, then we can take down the enemy easily. I think it will also work well in that dungeon.”

“Really? I understand.”

Minhyuk nodded his head as he used his Create a Recipe Skill. Once he checked the recipe for the dish that he would eat, he couldn’t help but jump up in surprise.

“It’s steamed monkfish. Hoo!”

He would cook for Locke but Minhyuk was completely delighted with the fact that he would cook steamed monkfish.

‘Ah. That’s right. Minhyuk-nim can also eat with us, right?’

Locke was also in high spirits.

“Kyaa! Steamed monkfish! I can’t wait. I’m definitely going to collect the best ingredients and eat them!”

Then, Ace burst his bubble.

“Wow. Hyung, you’ll also eat food that looks like you?”

“……Y, you want to die?!”

***

The chefs of the Valkyrie Kingdom were moving busily.

Then, there was the legendary chef Rald. The reason why he was dubbed as the legendary chef was simple…

There was once a dragon that attacked Valkyrie Kingdom. The dragon, together with his powerful soldiers wreaked havoc and almost devastated the kingdom. That dragon was the Black Dragon, Aspel. He continued to invade the kingdom despite the protection of the God Juis.

At that time, Black Dragon Aspel polymorphed and hid himself in the palace. He killed the king and all of his knights and tried to kill off the rest of the people in the palace. However, before he could do so, it was said that he had been drunk by the smell of the cooking and that he desired for Rald to cook a delicious dish for him. Even monsters regarded food as something important in their lives. Of course, delicious food was also something that they would covet. Rald feared that Black Dragon Aspen would kill him and the rest of the people so he had no choice but to cook for him.

However, it was just a legend. It was a fictitious story that came from the mouths of the people around him. They made that story to express how delicious Rald’s cooking was. And since he was the one in charge of cooking the food that would be served to satisfy the God Juis, they had already considered his story to not be too far from that legend.

“I believe that God Juis will also be satisfied with this dish again.” 

The ingredients were the best of the best. The dish could only be made with ingredients above the S-rank. And the dish he made was always at least at the epic rank! To make this one dish, he repeatedly cooked with S-ranked ingredients until he got it perfectly. God Juis was someone picky and she would not eat anything below the epic rank.

And the dish that would be served to her was….!

Galbi-jjim!

And it was not just a simple serving of galbi-jjim. The galbi-jjim would be the main dish and there would be various delicious side dishes that would be served beside it. Even those side dishes were made to be extremely delicious and appetizing.

Rald smiled pleasantly unaware of the looming disaster.

***

Footnotes

[1] 단호박 (Danhobak) : Literally means sweet pumpkin. However, it’s a slang for when someone refuses you flatly or a person who would outright say no without thinking about it. Back

Food Discussion Corner

아귀찜 (Agwijjim) : Steamed Monkfish or braised monkfish. A dish made with monkfish braised in a spicy red sauce and served with kongnamul or soybean sprouts.

갈비찜 (Galbi-jjim) : Braised short ribs. Korean steamed dish made with the short ribs of beef together with some vegetables. Usually served with rice, kimchi and plenty of other side dishes.

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