Leveling Up through Eating

‘Eh?’

Javin looked at the man in confusion as he excitedly picked up the artifacts, gold and Moon’s Wheat. There wasn’t even a single gold left at all. She felt flustered and embarrassed but she quickly wiped the expression off of her face as she spoke……

“May I ask you for a favor?”

“A favor?”

“Yes. I overslept so the party that I was supposed to go to Ructo’s Tomb left me behind. If you’re on your way to Ructo’s Tomb, would you mind letting me tag along?”

The mobs that loiter around in this path were all more difficult to handle than other mobs at the same level. In addition, there were a lot of tricks around this area so those who passed through this path were usually users who would go to Ructo’s Tomb. Javin knew this fact so she shamelessly asked him like that.

However, Minhyuk did not respond positively to her. He knew that it was better for him to walk this path alone.

Javin hurriedly persuaded him.

“The mobs in this path are a lot harder to deal with than what you think. You’ll be in trouble if you get cornered. Besides, I’m a pretty good tanker myself. I’ll pull the mobs aggro and block them for you. Ah! I’ll give you all the gold and artifacts that drop. We don’t have to party if you want~”

Minhyuk was not interested in her company at all. However, the artifacts that would drop, to be exact, the Moon’s Wheat that would drop attracted his attention more. Once the Moon’s Wheat dropped through her, he would be able to make delicious bibimguksu! However, a thought flashed through his mind.

‘She will give up all the drops no matter how much it is? That’s a bit weird……’

He understood the part about the artifacts.

But if we don’t party then she wouldn’t get any experience, right?

Minhyuk nodded in agreement even though he was quite suspicious of her motives. In fact, whether he was suspicious or not, he knew himself well and he was confident with his skills and abilities. He was sure that he could handle it even if he was betrayed by such a person.

“I understand. And I have an aggro ability so I’ll lead the way. And I’m in the middle of a leveling spree so is that fine with you?”

Minhyuk wanted to shoot with the bow as much as he could while he was on his way to the tomb. So he had to make sure about these things.

Javin grinned when she heard his words.

“Yes~ It’s fine.”

***

‘It, it’s not fine at all……! Someone please stop this crazy bastard!’ 

Javin was going crazy. There were currently around 20 Owl Bears and Harpies flocking in front of her. This was because Minhyuk had used the Gryphon’s Cry and attracted almost all of the monsters in their near vicinity.

“Kyaak!”

She had already used all of her tanker’s skills but it was still quite hard for her to stop the mobs from coming in.

And Minhyuk……

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh━

He was easily hunting the mobs by pulling his bow hard from behind her and hitting them straight through their vital points.

[You have acquired 1 DEX.]

[You have leveled up.]

“I leveled up again! Yeah!”

‘…..Shit, you fXcker!’

Javin was the only one suffering while Minhyuk gathered all of the EXP. She was only able to maintain and hold back the mobs to a certain extent thanks to Minhyuk’s hit rate which let him kill the mobs in just one hit.

Gulp, gulp━

At the end, Javin trembled as she drank a recovery potion in celebration for her survival. The tanker class generally had passive skills that would reduce their cooldown periods and lessen the need for recovery potions. She was even one of the tankers who had the shortest cooldown periods among the rest of the tankers in her level.

She quietly looked back once her throat was finally moistened by the recovery potion.

“Oh, aren’t there a lot of artifacts and gold? Kgghk, Moon’s Wheat!”

She could see that Minhyuk was actually picking up all of the gold, artifacts and Moon’s Wheat that dropped. Once he finished picking up all the drops……

“That…… C, can we take a b, bit of a break……”

“Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

“Hey, you shi……”

“Shi……?”

“Oreudamin-ssi?”

She looked like she was already on the verge of tears once she saw the monsters running towards them.

“Oh. That looks delicious. Haha, but I’m thankful to you. I’m hunting way too easily because you gave me a very big cover. This makes me feel a bit sorry but……”

She brightened when she heard his words. Then, she turned to look at the incoming monsters.

“Ah. Then, the item distribution……”

“But you’re still supposed to keep your promises.”

Minhyuk wanted to keep all the promises he made or others made to him. Besides, it was Javin who told him that herself, right?

And Javin was also getting some EXP from here. What was even worse was that she knew that without Minhyuk, she wouldn’t be able to go through this path alone. There weren’t many other users around so if she went without Minhyuk then she was sure that she wouldn’t be able to arrive in Ructo’s Tomb at all.

And Minhyuk also wanted to confirm something.

“……”

Javin was left speechless as a thought flashed through her mind.

‘D, did he know that I wanted to PK him?’

She quickly shook her head to clear that thought out of her mind. She knew that something like that did not make any sense at all. First of all, whenever she PKed, she would never do it in a single place for a long time.

Was he an acquaintance of a person that I killed before? No, then it should have been him who approached me first instead of me approaching him first. And he knows that I’m going to PK him but he still lets me accompany him? That just doesn’t make sense at all. Why?

There were always risks of ambush but there was only one person who would allow such a risk to accompany him.

‘Then, it means that he’s an extremely strong person.’

However, she knew that archers were much more vulnerable than the close combatant job class. After all, they would already risk themselves once they let an enemy near them. So in conclusion……

‘Isn’t he just a crazy bastard?’

No, I still have a chance.

After they finished another hunt, she looked back at him again. She untied some of the strings on her clothes to let her chest stand out a bit more.

“Hoo. Hunting…… Makes you feel hot……”

After she said that, she turned around to see Minhyuk smiling happily while he made bibimguksu with some steamed dumplings on top of it. Javin quietly sat beside him as she tried to naturally lean her head on his shoulders. Before she could even do so, Minhyuk had already left and escaped from her grasp.

“What are you doing?”

“Just for a bit. I’m too tired so let me lean on you for a bit.”

Minhyuk’s expression slowly crumpled. It was as if he was looking at her in both distaste and hate. Then, Minhyuk pulled out a silver pot out of his inventory as he turned it upside down and tapped it.

“Then put your head on here and rest until I finish eating all of these.”

“……Yes.”

Javin’s expression looked like she did not expect the things to go this way. She quietly leaned her head against the silver pot as she curled her body up.

‘Right now, why am I…… lying on a silver pot like this……’

Everyone would laugh at her if they saw her appearance right now. And Minhyuk…… he started his mukbang regardless of what she felt.

There were chopped lettuce, sliced cucumbers as well as chopped kimchi on top of the bibimguksu. The noodles were showing its red and glossy sheen. It was so appetizing that he couldn’t help but drool just by looking at it.

He quickly took his chopsticks to stir the contents of his bowl. Then, he lifted the bowl and pushed the noodles into his mouth.

“Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!”

As soon as he bit on the noodles, he could taste the sweet and sour flavor of the bibimguksu that seeped in the noodles. He could also feel the texture and flavor of the vegetables that were mixed well into the noodles.

He felt that the first bite that he clamped with his chopsticks was sweet. After two or three bites, he was starting to feel a tingling in his mouth. Once his mouth started to tingle from the sourness of the dish, he picked up a round and plump dumpling. The savory juices of the minced meat and vegetables inside the dumpling spread slowly in his mouth after just one bite. The flavor of the meaty dumplings soothed his tingling mouth.

“Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!”

Minhyuk finished the bowl of the bibimguksu in one gulp. He felt that accompanying her and getting the Moon’s Wheat that dropped from the monsters were the best thing that could happen.

Since she never acquired the drops it meant that she would not meet the requirements and conditions for the completion of the quest that collected Moon’s Wheat. And if she struck a mob just once it meant that a Moon’s Wheat would drop because of the quest. If Minhyuk accompanied her in the meantime and picked up the drops then he would be able to acquire Moon’s Wheat indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Javin, who was listening to his mukbang, couldn’t help but gulp down her saliva.

“Uhmm. You know……?”

“Yes?”

“Can I have some too?”

“I already ate it all…… I’m sorry.”

Javin felt devastated when she saw the empty bowl. At this time, she had already realized it.

‘H, he’s clearly a natural……’

“Hey, don’t you think that I’m pretty? The people around me always say that……”

“Through your own mouth……”

Minhyuk looked at her incredulously. Then, as if he was reciting a Korean textbook, he said……

“Ah. You’re so, so, so beautiful. I even thought that a fairy had come down from the heavens. Aigoo! My heart almost dropped when I saw your beauty.”

“……”

She knew that he was just accommodating her by saying this. Javin glared at him as she gritted her teeth in annoyance.

‘This damn bastard! I’ll PK you if you so much as let your guard down for a bit.’ 

However, she was the one who wanted to PK him and get his bow but one way or another it was her who got hurt in the process. She realized that she needed to find another way.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea passed through her mind.

‘……there should be some of our guild members in the tomb, right?’

She did not have the confidence to kill this man if she went after him alone. However, it would be a different matter if it was with her guild members in the tomb.

Just as she was thinking of contacting her guild, their guild chatting suddenly became active.

[Balen: Ha…… I never thought that a user named Black Dragon would be so strong.]

[Guild Master Crone: I think it’s because of the monster that he has. I’m sure it’s something out of the ordinary. From now on, pursue and track that Black Dragon.]

‘I can go on the guild chat now.’

All the guild members were concentrating on chasing after a man named Black Dragon so she knew that she couldn’t just shamelessly ask about her personal things. She decided to send a whisper to someone.

[Javin: Buckle-nim, there’s a user who has a bow that I think is Epic. Can you help me kill him in the Tomb?]

[Buckle: Oh. An Epic artifact? If I’m welcome, sure. But, aren’t you going to do it yourself Javin-nim……?]

Javin quickly explained the ins and outs of her situation. When Buckle saw her explanation, he couldn’t help but feel surprised.

[Buckle: When you tried to lean on his shoulders, he pulled out a pot and told you to lie on it? OMG……]

Then, Buckle continued to say……

[Buckle: Then, we should give that punk a taste of hell. It won’t be that difficult if he’s an archer. What’s his level?]

[Javin: He looks to be around Lv370.]

[Buckle: Yep. I understand. Come quickly.]

[Javin: Yep ^^!!]

She originally did not want to go to the tomb but her business was a bit annoying this time. However, Buckle and the other guild members were all users at Lv370 too.

“Isn’t the dungeon we’re going to have a requirement of being in a five-member party?”

Minhyuk nodded his head.

“Yes.”

“One person left our party because of something urgent. Would you like to party with us?”

Minhyuk looked like he thought about it deeply before nodding happily to her. Anyway, he would still need to find party members once he arrived there.

“Yeah.”

After getting his confirmation, Javin and Minhyuk began to move again.

***

Bachran Guild’s Guild Master Crone.

‘Black Dragon…… The monster that he has was clearly a legendary, no, perhaps it’s above it?’

Just as he was talking about that a whisper came in.

[Rak: Crone-nim, I found a hint about the second disaster artifact.]

The words caught Crone’s attention. Aside from being the GM of Bachran Guild, he was also a part of Black Stone. He might be a guild master but in front of the members of Black Stone, he was nothing.

Actually, he had a lot of doubts with the information that was given to him right now.

‘Why did he let me know about this?’

Crone knew about the disaster artifacts but he was wondering why Rak sent him a whisper like that.

[Rak: The hint was in Ructo’s Tomb that is being managed by Bachran Guild.]

“……!”

Crone’s eyes widened in surprise as he waited for Rak’s explanation.

[Rak: The millstone that will come out when you clear the trial. That’s the second artifact.]

“The millstone……?”

Crone clenched his fists tightly. A lot of people knew about the information about the millstone. It was a millstone that would give the person twice the yield with just a turn. It was the only humble and shabby millstone in the world that had special abilities to produce the most delicious food from it.

That millstone is a disaster artifact?

Crone’s mouth widened in a grin. This meant that he had an opportunity to make a great contribution just by obtaining this disaster artifact.

Without wasting any time, he quickly sent a whisper to Buckle who was currently in the Tomb.

[Crone: Buckle.]

[Buckle: Buckle-nim’s whisper is currently turned off.]

Crone’s forehead crumpled in shock.

Maybe I should enter the Tomb myself?

***

Buckle’s eyes quickly locked on to the person who came in with Javin. He was the user with the bow and was called Minhyuk.

‘That bow is epic rank……’

Buckle usually accompanied other plates and PKed them. However he was not able to do it much recently. His only reason was because he did not have much time since he was concentrating on Ructo’s Tomb.

But this epic ranked bow had changed his plans. It was worth hundreds of millions in cash so he definitely needed to do this.

“Hello.”

“Yes. Hello.”

After finishing their greetings, Buckle sent him a party invitation. As soon as Minhyuk accepted the request…

‘Huh……?’

Buckle double checked the information after he had accepted the party request. He couldn’t help but be confused when he saw the information.

‘What’s this?’

Javin had clearly told him that his level was approximately at Lv370. But that wasn’t the case at all.

[Minhyuk / Lv305]

***