Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: Chubby Cheeks

PR: MattForgenti

He might still be very weak right now but…

“God Juis, can I raise my head and look at you directly just once?”

Juis hurriedly drew back her shocked expression and maintained a calm exterior.

“How dare someone like you try and gaze at my visage?” 

She laughed silently as if she had done a great mischief.

“Because I’ll only know what dish I can make for the person if I saw their face directly.”

“……That’s an unusual ability. What’s your job class?”

“It’s Food God.”

“……Food God.”

She nodded her head in understanding.

‘He must be one of the Continental Gods.’

Continental Gods were gods that live in the continent among the ordinary people. It was no wonder that she had never heard of him or his name before.

“I’ll allow it.”

The man slowly raised his head to gaze at her face then immediately bowed down again.

***

Minhyuk had quickly used his Create a Recipe skill when he peeked at God Juis and was finally able to see the dish that she wanted the most.

(Dak-galbi Recipe for Juis)

Required Ingredients: Daybreak Chicken, Sun-filled Gochujang, Snow Mountain Sweet Potatoes (omitted)

Expected Dish Grade: Rare ~ Legendary

Expected Effects:

━ A sharp increase in God’s Blessings.

━ A sharp increase in Valkyrie Kingdom’s holy power.

‘D, dak-galbi?!’

Minhyuk’s eyes widened in surprise.

Dak-galbi! Everyone knew that this was a dish that any person could enjoy with just 10,000~15,000 won per head! On a large round grill there were cabbages, chicken meat, sweet potatoes and rice cakes lined up all around. What was most special about this dish was all the extra ingredients, right? Udon, ramen, and even cheese! There were plenty of noodles and ingredients that you could put in such a dish.

‘If you order cheese……’

You could sprinkle the cheese in the middle of the pan after the dak-galbi was cooked. And the part-timer would even lend you their magic touch as they mixed everything! Everyone would definitely fall silent as they watch the part-timer work his magic and mix the dak-galbi and the cheese together! And after waiting for the long-awaited words of the part-timer…

‘You can eat now.’

He would leave your side and let you enjoy the dak-galbi to your heart’s content.

Just imagining it could give him enough satisfaction.

Interesting to watch, interesting to eat and there are even interesting ingredients to choose from!

Then, at that moment, Juis opened her mouth.

“You, I’m quite hungry right now. Tell that to Varen!”

“Yes!”

“The second catastrophe will now hit the Northern Continent.”

At the same time, Minhyuk also heard the notifications in his head.

[Four days later, the second catastrophe will befall the Northern Continent.]

[The Second Catastrophe. All users in the Northern Continent will have a 10% reduction in all their skills and abilities.]

This notification was probably heard by all of the users and people that were currently in the Northern Continent.

Once Minhyuk stepped out of the temple Juis looked down and grinned mischievously. In all honesty, she believed that her demands were impossible to be met.

‘I also haven’t tasted a legendary dish in my life.’

Also, the existence of the legendary dish was just like a story that had been passed down from one generation to another.

She couldn’t help mumbling to herself as she looked down at the spot where Minhyuk was earlier.

‘The Food God and the incarnation of Gluttony are together……?’ 

***

Minhyuk came out of the temple and quickly listed the ingredients that he would need to Varen. However, the ingredients that he needed were all very high-ranked and rare that they would have a hard time getting them.

And the most crucial thing was…

‘Among the ingredients that we have, all the ingredients for dak-galbi are missing.’

In other words, all the extra ingredients that could supplement the recipe were all missing. And even the ingredients that the recipe required were even hard to find. However, he still wondered about the result if they replaced all of the missing ingredients with higher-ranked ingredients. If that was the case, then he might still be able to produce the expected Legendary ranked dish.

Varen quickly gave out his orders.

“Use all of your forces and procure the ingredients to the best of your abilities!”

Even the Legend Guild’s informant also moved to help. The informant had an introverted personality however, he knew almost all of the information about Athenae. In addition, he had the ability to return to the places that he had been to even if he just had a normal return scroll. Using this ability, he quickly went to Ellie’s side and informed him of the happenings in Valkyrie Kingdom.

Ellie quickly mobilized her forces to look for the ingredients. Together with the informant, they began collecting the ingredients at a much faster speed compared to everyone else. They collected as much as they could of the best of the best of ingredients!

With this speed and scale, even if they did not want to know, the rumors had spread to the ears of the Iris Guild. It even reached the ears of the guild master of Louvert Guild, Twilight Chef Black! He was informed that Legend Guild’s Chef was trying to please God Juis with his cooking.

“Puhahahaha! This is a complete comedy!”

Black laughed loudly. He knew more of this matter since Iris Guild had quickly contacted him and promised him to join the raid. And if he joined the raid, he believed that he would be able to garner enough heat and attention to promote the Louvert Guild. In addition, he would also be able to get God’s treasure, Ballad’s cup! It was a treasure that could give the user special powers and abilities! It was a priceless item that could only be received from such a quest.

He knew that they had received a quest to eradicate the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis and appease her with a ritual food. If he was able to complete this quest, then Twilight Chef Black would definitely gain a lot from this transaction.

Meanwhile, Callian told him…

“But what if that chef satisfies God Juis before we do?”

Black snorted condescendingly.

“It’s absolutely impossible.”

“Impossible……” 

“Up until now, the highest ranked dish that the user has ever made was epic. It was only an epic dish even though the ingredients that were used in the dish were all S-ranked. We even made it after a continuous trial and error and we have only made 100 of such dishes.”

A buffed dish that was made only by the highest qualified chefs but they were only able to make 100 of them?

“I, is it that difficult?”

“That’s right. Even if you only heard of the rumors, they still said that they will try and make a ‘legendary’ dish, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s impossible. I don’t think that it will be possible until a year later when the game is opened to the world. In all honesty, I heard that you have to be someone that has surpassed the craftsman’s level to produce a legendary dish so I don’t think it’s possible right now.”

Even Black was still under the master level and was still miles away from that inch that could take him to the craftsman level.

“We tried a thousand of times using the best of ingredients but we were only able to make only 100 of these dishes. What was worse, did you know who was able to make the epic ranked dish in the end?”

“……who?”

“I did.”

“……!”

The only chef to have ever made an epic ranked dish was Twilight Chef Black!

Soon after, Callian’s mouth almost ripped in two with how wide he was grinning.

Come to think of it, who was Black? He’s one of the top 10 chefs that are known in the world and he also ranks 1st~2nd in Athenae’s Chef’s rankings.

What was more…

“After receiving the quest and eradicating the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis, all we have to do is place an epic dish in front of the altar.”

Black shrugged his shoulders in confidence.

“I can make an epic dish after I put in plenty of efforts and made several trials and errors. So all you have to do is prepare yourselves for the attack and be treated as heroes. Of course, we could always prepare the food in advance and cast a food-maintenance spell on it.”

Then, Callian told him this as if he found his arrogance to be something fun and interesting.

“Anyway, are you sure that we will be the first one to satisfy God Juis?”

“Of course.”

“Then, how about we do this?”

“Please speak your mind.”

“Let’s slowly circulate those rumors.”

“Ho.”

Black finally noticed his cunningness.

“Who will do it first? Legend Guild or Iris Guild?”

“Yeah. Of course, we will be the ones who will win but wouldn’t people mock and laugh at Legend Guild for this loss?”

“I see.”

Twilight Chef Black grinned wickedly. It seemed like he liked this type of game.

“Ah. When are we going to attack the dungeon?”

“On the day when the second catastrophe will fall.”

If they did it at that time, then the users would all feel more relieved and grateful to them. Then they would cheer for them more. Iris Guild was well prepared. They were confident that the victory would be in their hands after all they had the best rankers from their guild and the best mercenaries participating in the raid. In addition, they had already found the location of the dungeon and were just waiting for the right time to attack the dungeon. They firmly believed that they would definitely receive huge rewards.

However, there was just one thing that he was curious about.

‘The artifacts and gold will only be dropped if we hunted God Juis……?’

Strangely enough, nothing would drop in the dungeon if they attacked it and they would only be able to acquire the drops once they destroyed the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis. In other words, if they acquired 10,000 gold in their first round of dungeon attack then they would only be able to get 10,000 gold from God Juis. This was the very first SS-ranked quest in the country so they would be expecting plenty of rewards.

Then, Callian turned his attention back to Black and asked him…

“How many tries do you need before you produce an epic ranked dish?”

“I probably need to try for at least 50 times.”

***

Only twice.

After trying the dish twice, an epic-ranked dish already came out.

“……It’s really unbelievably crazy.”

“Does this even make any sense?”

“……”

Varen, Eidni and Perle were all left speechless when facing the situation in front of them.

‘It’s really different when you make a dish using S-ranked ingredients……’

It was truly a different experience.

So far, Minhyuk had looked if he could change some of the ingredients with other S-ranked ingredients and plenty of them had gone inside the first dish. However, he had now cooked using only S-ranked ingredients.

He had even used plenty of additional ingredients than what the Create a Recipe skill had recommended. Originally, he only needed the daybreak chicken, sun-filled gochujang, snow mountain sweet potato and the rabbit warrior’s carrot. But he was not able to get the rabbit warrior’s carrot so he added the ground tree udon noodles that were said to be cultivated deep underground. This ground tree udon noodles were a great medicine. And many of the other ingredients that he added on the dish were also great medicines!

Medicines seemed to produce a much more ideal effect than S-ranked ingredients. When he used such ingredients to cook, the material grade that came out was much higher and even the dish rank came out pretty high. Of course, not all dishes would result with a high rank just because he used high ranked ingredients. But Minhyuk’s x2 effect played a big role in him getting such high ranks for his dishes.

Also…

‘I think DEX has a higher impact this time?’

It seemed like his DEX and his Food God’s Acquisition Skill had played a great role in his cooking. Food God’s Acquisition Skill would literally teach him about the perfect timing of the actions that needed to be done in the dish and his DEX played a major support in supplementing his cooking skills. This had allowed him to have the best results in his dishes. It was safe to say that his x2 effect from his DEX had an effect that was at least around 5~6 times higher than what the x2 effect had described.

‘There won’t be another chance like this.’

My goodness. The entire empire and kingdom were moving tirelessly to supply him with the best ingredients. This was a chance that he would never be able to get a second time again so he had to give it his all. After all, this was also the first time that Minhyuk would be able to taste a legendary dish.

In the midst of all his musings…

“Kgghk. It’s a bit of a disappointment. If he was a bit more careful then, a legendary dish might have already come out.”

“That’s true.”

Varen and Eidni sang their own tunes.

However, on the other side…

“Hehe. Udon is really delicious!”

Minhyuk had used the best of the best of the ingredients. However, since it couldn’t be presented to God Juis then his only choice, not that he was complaining, was to eat this failed dish. Of course, the buff effect or the power that could be obtained from this dish and the previous dish could not be obtained at all since the owner of the dish had already been chosen.

“Ahem, ahem. Can I have a bite, too?”

Varen sat in front of him as Minhyuk thought of something bad.

‘I wish it will come out as late as possible……!’

That way, I’ll be able to eat more delicious food!

On the contrary, Varen was thinking…

‘I hope that it will come out soon so we can wipe out the catastrophe already……’

Then, he grabbed his utensils and tasted Minhyuk’s failed dish.

‘……Maybe it’s alright if it comes out a bit later?’

Varen, who was a certified gourmand, wanted to keep on eating such an amazing dish! After all, it was so delicious that he couldn’t even put it into words.

“Wow…… Wow…… Really…… Wow……”

The taste was so superb that he could only exclaim ‘wow’ to express his delight. But Varen shook his head in disappointment.

‘But I really hope that it comes out soon!’

“You have to satisfy God Juis quickly. We don’t have much time!”

When he heard his words, Minhyuk quickly finished his bowl and continued on his cooking. However, his Create a Recipe skill would consume his buffing ability so Minhyuk could only cook four times per day.

Was there any other way?

None.

So King Varen instructed his men to bring this ingredient to him.

Ramis’ honey!

“Kgghk! It might not be Lafender’s honey but it’s still a delicious honey!”

Minhyuk quickly made garaetteok and ate it with Ramis’ honey. He couldn’t stop himself from eating such a delicious combination!

Ramis’ honey was not the best of the medicines that could be found but once ingested it could randomly increase the person’s EXP and restore their buffing ability.

“Chomp!”

The steaming rice cake was dipped in Ramis’ honey and placed in his mouth quickly. Once he chomped on it, he could taste the sweetness of the honey and the crunchy texture of the grilled rice cake. After chewing for quite some time, he could feel the chewy inside of the rice cake which further enhanced his experience! It was truly a delightful snack.

“Kgghk!”

[Your buff has recovered.]

[You have leveled up.]

[Your buff has recovered.]

[Your buff has recovered.]

 [You have leveled up.]

He continued to cook the dishes according to the recipe from the Create a Recipe skill. Then, once his buffing ability is all gone, he would go and eat Ramis’ honey before cooking again. This cycle continued on and on. Ramis’ honey was around 5 platinum per dose but Minhyuk was being supplied an endless amount of Ramis’ honey. This was a feat that no user could ever hope to replicate.

He was even able to bomb his way through his levels just by eating Ramis’ honey. Previously, when he successfully hunted Rumad, he was able to gain 20 levels which raised his level to Lv241. However, just by eating Ramis’ honey, he was able to increase his level to Lv249.

He continued on for 2 days with just cooking, eating Ramis’ honey and cooking again. However, the results…

“Two epic, twenty unique…… uhm……”

After he had made two epic ranked dishes, the rank of the dishes that he had made after had deteriorated.

“W, we’ll be in big trouble tomorrow! The catastrophe will definitely fall on us tomorrow!” 

Varen almost pulled his hair out of his head with how nervous and anxious he was. Minhyuk had suddenly started to lose his luck and Varen’s heart started to burn with great anxiety. He didn’t know if Minhyuk knew of his troubles but he still saw him went near the Ramis’ honey and ate it.

[Your buff has recovered.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have unsealed Great Mage’s Rafielt’s Cloak.]

This cloak laid in his inventory quietly. Without this notification, Minhyuk might have completely forgotten about this item. This cloak was the cloak with the ‘invisibility’ function that could be worn at Lv250 and above. And this cloak had now been unsealed.

***

TL’s corner!

My god. Please. A Legendary Dish. Just one. Please come out!

PR’s corner!

Oh, Black, don’t you know that pride comes before a fall?

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