Leveling Up through Eating

47 Gorac’s Aging Jar

Department Head Kim Dae-il looked at the monitor with his hands beaded with sweat. Everyone was on the edge of their seats. And after the second attack……

[South Korea’s Legend Team: 37 minutes 24 seconds. Rank: 1st.]

[America’s Black Swan Team: 43 minutes 38 seconds. Rank: 2nd.]

President Kang Taehoon couldn’t help but jump up from his seat. He smiled at the result of the second attack. The pervading silence in the meeting room finally disappeared like a breeze after his smile. The other people in the meeting room were also delighted with this outcome.

“First! Our South Korea is number 1!!!”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“Who said that our country is a ruined game powerhouse?! Look at this!”

They might be the developer of the game but they also valued and treasured their country deeply.

“Every team should eat beef for dinner today, right? Huh? On me.”

“Waaaaah!”

“That’s good!”

Team Leader Park let out a small smile.

‘You’ve been making us watch a mukbang everyday and making us hungry and you’ll only feed us with beef just this one time?’

Grin━

Then, Kim Dae-il suddenly spoke up.

“Once they broke through the 40 minute threshold they will be given an SS rank rating. Does that mean that breaking through the 35 minute threshold will give them an SSS rank rating? Then what will their rewards be?”

Team Leader Park answered his questions.

“In the first place, the rewards for the 1st~3rd place of the Time Attack Dungeon were still not announced. The reason for that was because it’s entirely dependent on the rank that they will get. We have artifacts that we can check and confirm up until the SS rank.” 

“Then does that mean that we will not be able to check the SSS rank artifact until they received it?”

“Yes. We don’t know what artifact will come out.” 

Then, Kang Taehoon also interjected.

“But there’s one thing I’m sure of.” 

“One thing that you’re sure of?” 

Kang Taehoon nodded his head as he continued.

“Artifacts that are tailored to that user’s job class and game pattern will definitely drop.”

***

Khan, Locke and Genie couldn’t come back to their senses.

Genie was currently checking the comments on Athenae’s Official Homepage. The number 1 article on the website was currently ‘Legend SSS rank, let’s goooooooo!’ and was sitting firmly on top of the other articles. The number of views quickly exceeded 300,000 and there were even plenty of comments that were cheering under the article.

[Raj: I’ll listen to my mom and dad from now on so please get an SSS rank!]

[Kaora: I’m watching it. Do it, Legend.]

[Baro: This is a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I wish for my parents to live long and healthy, please give me a girlfriend and please let Legend get an SSS rank and give the world a big fat fXck you.]

[Caruman: Dae~ Han Min Gook! Clap, clap. Clap. Clap, clap! Daehanmingook! Clap, clap! Clap, clap!]

[Ace: Wow. As expected of Legend. But there’s a cool, short and cute guy in Legend. He’s very sexy too. Ah, wait. He’s also looking for a girlfriend. He won against Red-footed Jeff just recently too! A girlfriend who looks just like Robin! ******]

“……That Ace. I really should give a round of applause to Ace.”

“If you’re going to talk shit then you should have done it right. What the hell Ace, you’re really Ace.”

They all smiled at his silly antics as Khan, Locke and Minhyuk entered the dungeon once again. This was their final attempt and this attempt would determine whether they would achieve an SSS rank or not.

During the first point, they ran fast as they attacked the cursed dragon. After quickly killing the cursed dragon, they had already used Gryphon’s Cry 50 meters away from the second point. 

They were able to draw the aggro of 20 monsters immediately. Khan and Locke already received buffs from the skill so the only thing left to do was to draw the aggro of the monsters that were blocking the second spot. Minhyuk swiftly ran around in a circle to draw the aggro of dozens of monsters and concentrate them in the middle of the area where they were. Khan and Locke would solve some of the monsters that were running too closely to Minhyuk as they followed behind him. Once the monsters were all gathered neatly in one place, Minhyuk quickly used Blooming Sword, Deep (Burst).

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

“Nice!” 

On their second try, even if they were able to steer the mobs in one place, he still missed four of them so they had to waste some time to hunt them. But this time, he was lucky enough to solve all of them at once.

After quickly dealing with the mobs, they did not stop to rest and quickly ran fast. This time, they would deal with the lava river. As soon as the frying pan became huge, Locke already handed Kongie the rope that he had prepared earlier. Then, Kongie flew to the other side immediately. They threw the frying pan on the lava river, threw some cooling potion in it, jumped inside and pulled themselves to move to the other side.

Currently, 28 minutes had passed since they entered the dungeon. They ran faster towards the final boss’ room.

As they grew closer to the boss room, Minhyuk started to prepare his Splitting Sword, Rain (Soar). And as soon as they arrived, the Dullahan King fell from above.

Shwaaaaaak!

A bright red light shone from Minhyuk’s greatsword. Minhyuk swung his sword fiercely as the red half-moon sword light slashed through the air.

[Foolish…… Huh? Keuaaaaaack!]

Its wrists were immediately cut off as soon as it appeared. The Dullahan King couldn’t help but shriek in pain. It quickly started its summoning of the other Dullahans while Khan, Locke and Minhyuk poured their skills out and attacked the Dullahan King.

“Cursed Angel’s Axe!”

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!

“Raging Fist!”

Punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch!

“Rampant Sword!”

Puhaaaa━

Puhaaaa━

Puhaaaa!

Without even seeing the light of day, the Dullahans already disappeared as they were killed in an instant.

[……]

The Dullahan King looked like it was left speechless.

Stab!

Minhyuk triggered Sword of Fury, Shatter (Destroy) as he stabbed straight through the Dullahan King’s body.

Bang!

The Dullahan King had disappeared 50 seconds after it had appeared in front of them.

Then, the three of them all collectively looked at the clearing time on the top left corner.

34 minutes 28 seconds.

“Kghhk!”

“Kyaha!”

“I’m hungry.”

Khan and Locke were being thrilled all by themselves while Minhyuk took out a Choco Heim from his inventory.

Crunch━

He could feel the crunchy texture of the wafer whenever he chewed the snack and there was also the cold chocolate that slowly melted in his mouth. Minhyuk smiled pleasantly as he savored this taste.

“Minhyukie is really not interested in anything else except for eating.”

“I know right.”

Khan and Locke both waited for the notification about the Time Attack Dungeon ending since they knew that it was about time for it to end. In the meantime, Minhyuk took his time as he ate 20 pieces of Choco Heim continuously.

“Just one……”

“No, no!”

“……yeah.”

Locke sighed sadly even though he knew that he would receive a straight refusal if he asked for a piece.

After 2 minutes of waiting, the notification finally rang.

[The Time Attack Dungeon has ended.]

[1st place. South Korea’s Legend Team. SSS rank.]

[2nd place. America’s Black Swan Team. S rank.]

[3rd place. China’s Thousand Li Team. A rank.]

[Congratulations. Legend Team has achieved SSS rank.]

[You have acquired 300,000 EXP as a reward.]

[You have acquired 200 reputation points.]

[A personalized treasure chest will be awarded to the highest contributor, User Minhyuk.]

“Th, th, th, three hundred thousand EXP?!!!”

“Waaaa!”

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

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

There were only four level up notifications. But prior to that, while they were attacking the Time Attack Dungeon, Minhyuk was able to gain additional EXP which increased his level to 294 from the original 291. In other words, his level right now was at 298.

“”My level increased by 1!”

“Me too!”

Compared to Minhyuk, it seemed like Khan and Locke needed a lot more EXP to raise their levels.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk looked at one of the notifications from before.

A personalized treasure chest?

Minhyuk slowly approached the treasure chest that appeared in front of him. The treasure chest looked like it was extremely old and battered.

“Open the treasure chest.”

Clack, clack━

Clack, clack━

The treasure chest moved on its own as it shook wildly. The shaking suddenly stopped as the lid of the treasure chest slowly opened. What came out of it was none other than a huge jar.

“……huh?”

Minhyuk was taken aback when he saw a huge jar appear out of the treasure chest. Khan and Locke who were excitedly anticipating the contents of the treasure chest were also quite taken aback.

[You have acquired the Gorac’s Aging Jar.]

“An aging jar?”

Minhyuk was suddenly interested when he saw the name of the jar. He quickly checked the information of the item.

(Gorac’s Aging Jar)

Set Artifact

Rank: ???

Restrictions: None

Durability: ∞ / ∞

Special Abilities: As soon as you place any food inside, it will be aged and matured immediately to the best time for it to be eaten.

Description: It is a jar that has been buried underneath the ground for a thousand of years and has been quietly waiting for its owner.

“……!”

Minhyuk’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the special ability of the item that he had received.

***

A user was smiling brightly inside the Tomb of the Giant King. It was a male user that was wearing some ragged and worn out clothes. He had successfully cleared the tomb of an ancient king and acquired the treasure that was hidden beneath it.

“I finally got one!”

His name was Rak. He was a user with the job class ‘Legendary Explorer’ with a special ability of finding great ruins.

Currently, he was able to dig out a meat cutting knife called Yukdo under the tomb. The Yukdo’s blade was already experiencing the times but nevertheless he still looked at it in awe and admiration.

‘I can’t believe I finally received a Gorac’s artifact……!’

The Gorac’s artifacts were a set of artifacts. However, if one only possessed a single artifact from this set, then it wouldn’t be able to exert its true power but they would still be able to use the unique abilities that were attached to the artifact.

The Gorac’s Yukdo, one of the artifacts in the Gorac’s artifact set, had its special ability written as this……

[Even rotten meat will turn into the best quality meat once it passes through the blade of the Gorac’s Yukdo.]

Although it looked like it was just an artifact for a chef, the truth was not as simple as that.

Gorac was the devil. This devil had hidden the artifacts that he had created all over the world of Athenae. These items were all disguised with humble appearances and they would only exert their true power once there were two items gathered together.

It took Rak roughly 5 months just to find this one artifact. If he was able to find another one of Gorac’s hidden artifacts then he would be able to wield a tremendous power.

A power that could go beyond that of the strength of a legendary artifact. Of course, there was still the God Artifact that existed beyond legendary but God Artifacts were artifacts that were exclusively for God Class users. However, disaster artifacts like these, even though they were not recognized as an official ranking, definitely had the strength somewhere between the legendary and the God rank.

Then, at that moment, a pigeon flew inside the desolate dungeon.

The pigeon is delivering a letter? But there’s that thing you call whisper, why do you deliver a letter like this?

This letter was the only means for an Athenae user to communicate with users from all over the world. Since the servers were still not yet integrated, the only way that they could contact other people from a different country was through a letter.

Rak took the note from the pigeon’s feet. He grinned when he saw the contents of the letter.

[South Korea’s Legend Team has ranked first place in the Time Attack Dungeon. ‘Black Stone’ members in Korea wanted to let us know about this fact. And Rak, what happened to Gorac’s artifact?]

Black Stone. It was an organization that had its root spread in every corner of the world. And the owner of this group was none other than Callauhel. Black Stone was not a guild. However, in many parts of the world it did its operations and moved like a guild. They were as secretive as Legend Guild in the past but their members were mostly made up of Dark Gamers. Dark Gamers were users who made money through games.

And Callauhel…… Rak had no doubts about his abilities. Recently, his level reached 542. He was the best in the world. But no one knew about his identity or what he did in reality. The only thing that they were sure of was that he was the world’s number 1 in the unofficial rankings and no other user could keep up with him. They were sure that he was a huge tycoon.

Rak sent a letter to Callauhel before sending a whisper to another member of Black Stone.

[Rak: Kaistra, I finally found the first disaster artifact.

***

Minhyuk’s body trembled as he looked at the item in front of him. He looked like someone who finally got his hands on a new car that had saved every penny that he could get his hands on for. He desperately wanted to use it and see it’s stellar performance.

Ah. Didn’t I have that thing?

“Soy sauce marinated crabs……”

Minhyuk had used the poison of the Giant Toad King to marinade and ferment the snow crabs that he had received from the Dragon King when he stopped by the sea. The waiting time was pure and endless torture.

But it won’t be the case anymore.

‘Huhu…… I can eat it right now!’ 

“Minhyuk-ah?” 

“Hey. Why aren’t you answering us?”

His friends kept on calling his name but he couldn’t hear anything at all.

What great concentration!

He immediately pulled out a huge barrel from his inventory. This was the barrel that he had placed his soy sauce marinated crabs in. Then, he swiftly placed the barrel inside Gorac’s ‘Aging Jar’.

‘That man named Gorac definitely must have been a chef…… I can’t believe that someone made something this innovative!’

In fact, no one would turn to look at such an insignificant artifact. After all, wasn’t it just aging and fermenting things right away? However, Minhyuk was someone completely different from the rest of the users. He was not someone who craved for the best and strongest artifacts!

Suddenly, a whisper notification popped up.

[General: Minhyuk-ah. This hyung of yours got you some piece of good information.]

However, Minhyuk did not bother to reply as he picked up the lid of the jar to close Gorac’s jar. As if sensing that Minhyuk would not answer him immediately, General sent another whisper.

[General: Millstone.]

***

TL’s corner!

I bet this millstone is also Gorac’s artifact. Hmmmm.

PR’s corner!

Yeah, probably. Can’t wait to see what happens when they get together.

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