Leveling Up through Eating

Translators: ChubbyCheeks

Even though Baphomet looked like this, he was still a Demonic Monster from the Demon World. He had already checked Baphomet’s status window and confirmed the strength and force that he could exert. Even though he was labeled as a ‘weaker’ version of Baphomet, he could still cast fifth class magical attacks without any difficulty. In other words, he was strong.

Hundreds of monsters appeared once more as Minhyuk extinguished more candles again. Then, he ordered Baphomet to give them a debuff.

[Demonic Monster’s Hymn.]

[Monsters who hear the Demonic Monster’s cry will lose 60% of their defensive power.]

[Demonic Monster Baphomet will have a 50% increase in magical attack power.]

“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!” 

Baphomet’s cute cry rang loudly in the coliseum. Then, he floated in the air as dozens of magic circles formed around him.

Among this guy’s skills, there was a ‘Large Capacity Storage’ as well as a regular ‘Storage’. The regular Storage skill was the skill that Minhyuk was able to absorb and convert into his own skill. On the other hand the Large Capacity Storage skill could store an enormous amount of magic in the body of the skill user as if it were stored in a wand or a staff. This skill could allow the skill user to shoot plenty of magic at their enemies non-stop.

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

Baphomet’s magic engulfed the incoming monsters. Even without the 60% drop in their defensive power, there seemed to be no monster that could withstand Baphomet’s maelstrom of magical attacks.

Then, Minhyuk glanced back at Vhad. He could see that his expression was distorted beyond words.

“F, for real… You, nim……”

When he saw Kerry’s surprised face, Minhyuk thought that it was time for him to take a step forward. When he took a step forward, he also did not forget to put out 20 more candles. Then he jumped into the fray of monsters using ‘Like the Wind’. As soon as he landed in the midst of the monsters, a huge black tornado made of fire started to form around him.

[Dark Fire Storm.]

[The storm made out of black fire will devour and engulf your enemies within a 6-meter radius. The storm will deal magical attacks with 600~1,000 damage on the enemies.]

Hwaaaaaaaaaaak!

After he summoned the fire tornado, Minhyuk quickly withdrew again. The massive Dark Fire Storm that was created among the monsters engulfed them and slaughtered them in one fell swoop. However, there were still monsters that did not die from the attack.

When Minhyuk saw this, he stepped forward with Baphomet. Baphomet held his staff while Minhyuk held his frying pan. His legendary frying pan could help him cast second class magic without casting.

In addition, magical attacks were affected by the ‘INT’. Currently, Minhyuk’s INT after eating a lot of medicine and special ingredients had increased to be above that of a Lv250 mage. In addition, his ‘WIS’ stat which is closely related to ‘MP’ had exceeded those at Lv350. So what if a person with this kind of stat went wild with his magical attacks that did not need any casting?

“Fireball! Ice bolt! Lightning! Wind cutter!”

Bang! Bang, bang, bang! Slash! Shweeeeeeek!

And there was even Baphomet beside him who was offering him support from the side. Baphomet also began to pour out a great deal of magical attacks towards the enemies.

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

After tidying up the last monster, Minhyuk rushed back. And as usual, he picked up all of the food parchment that was dropped. This time, he ripped the ‘Jeonju Southern Market’s Sundae Rice Soup’.

***

Lee Dawoul, the Olympic gold medalist in kendo, was known as the Myth Creator in the London Olympics at the young age of 20.

And a few days ago, this same Lee Dawoul had officially shown and revealed himself in Athenae. He was the Crown Prince of Swords at Lv499. He was playing unofficially so he held a press conference prior to the start of Athenae: Korean War.

His presence attracted the attention of countless people. After all, an Olympic gold medalist would participate in Athenae: Korean War. He was even at Lv499 with a name stated as the Crown Prince of Swords. To be specific, his level was known to be higher than the unofficial number 1 in domestic rankings Kaistra.

So what did he mean by unofficial?

They were the ones who kept their information a secret. As a result, even though he was ranked either first or second in the unofficial rankings he could not express his heartfelt feelings.

“The ‘War of the World Tree’ will start soon.” 

The War of the World Tree. It was an event in the Athenae: Korean War and the competition for the combat classes. The War of the World Tree was a competition that plenty of people showed great interest in. It was a competition that would take place in the enormous ‘World Tree’. Everyone would start at the bottom of the gigantic tree and would follow the story of reviving the rotten ‘World Tree’ back to life. Since the country’s top combatants would participate, they expected the highest ratings for this part of the competition. 

Then, at that moment, a man came inside. This man was also a national kendo player.

“Why?”

“You did not watch the Korean War?” 

“The Eat Quickly Contest?” 

When he heard his words, Lee Dawoul couldn’t help but laugh. Watching something like that was unnecessary for someone like him who sat on top of the rest of the combat classes in the country.

“Why are you watching such a thing?” 

Lee Dawoul had a bit of a cheeky and arrogant character. The success that he had experienced at a young age had made him arrogant. In addition, having a personality that hated losing was enough for the people around him to get tired of him.

“It’s really interesting now. A player named Minhyuk participated and Vhad is not even using his complete power.” 

“……Minhyuk?” 

Lee Dawoul frowned slightly as an ominous feeling crept up behind him. He hurriedly stood up to stand in front of the TV with his friend.

[I can’t even say anything. The magic that comes out of the frying pan quickly devours the monsters around him.]

[Their score even went up by 150 in an instant. It’s completely overwhelming. It’s a landslide!]

[Ah, Player Minhyuk looks like he’s working hard. I feel like his expression is telling us that ‘I’ve worked hard so I better eat something delicious later!’. Who in the world is that player!]

“……!” 

Lee Dawoul’s body trembled in shock.

“Dawoul-ah?” 

He heard the voice of his friend next to him as he looked at the screen showing the face of a man that was smiling brightly as he held his chopsticks in great anticipation.

“You, you……” 

It was the first time that Lee Dawoul suffered a defeat. Although he suddenly disappeared from the world, there was once a lot of talk about him becoming a promising player who could lead the Korean Olympics. And that player was none other than Kang Minhyuk.

Lee Dawould grinned darkly. He was sure that the lion that was once a predator had now lost all of his teeth. After all, unlike him, he had already become an Olympic gold medalist.

‘He’s a poor kid. If he’s not doing kendo then what has he been doing these days?’ 

He clearly remembered. Once their match ended, he reached out his hands towards him who suffered in defeat. At that time, Lee Dawoul thought that it was an outright mockery of him. So he gritted his teeth as he tried to catch up to him. But he suddenly disappeared.

But now, he had appeared again.

***

[The competition is over.]

[Team 11, who everyone expected to be the weakest and the lowest team, has broken everyone’s expectations and proudly won the MVP!]

[Ah, can you see now? Player Kerry looks so excited.]

[I think I will be the same if I was in the same situation. Player Kerry was being ignored by everybody because he was a nominated candidate but although he was not as good as Player Minhyuk he never fell behind the other production classes.]

[I think it’s better to say that he was better than most of them in the first place instead of saying that he was not lagging behind.]

[It seems like he did not show his full power in the preliminary rounds.]

[Ah. Player Kerry is bowing to our large crowd with tears in his eyes!]

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!” 

Kerry was going wild while holding on to the ‘MVP’ trophy in his hands. Then, he bowed to the camera and said with hot tears streaming down his face.

“I, I want to give this honor to my father who is in heaven now!” 

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“So cool!” 

Click, click, click, click, click!

[Ah, I can feel my eyes burning with tears. During the interview in the preliminary rounds, Player Kerry said that he had lost his father to ‘pancreatic cancer’ two years ago.]

[Player Kerry went fishing alone every day in the world of Athenae to remember his father and his favorite hobby. And it was the reason why he became the ‘Legendary Fisherman’.]

[My heart feels really warm.]

[Huh? Where is Player Kerry looking at?]

[He’s looking at Player Minhyuk.]

Kerry turned to look at Minhyuk who presented such a miraculous moment to him before quickly approaching him and saying……

“I’m sorry for ignoring you before.”

“It’s fine. I would do the same. Well.”

Kerry laughed happily when he saw him smile. Then he gave him a big hug.

[Is, is this a bromance?!]

[Hmm, hmm. I can now expect a lot of stories about these two people, Minhyuk and Kerry, from many BL readers.]

After Kerry hugged him, he absorbed the trophy.

[You have absorbed the MVP Trophy.]

[You have earned the qualifications for Athenae: World War.]

[You have acquired 100 platinum.]

[You have acquired the Title: Production MVP.]

[You have earned 10,000 achievement points.]

[You have gained 500 reputation points.]

Kerry smiled pleasantly.

‘These 100 platinum can be cashed out and converted to 250 million. I’m going to set up a fishing shop with this!’

Then, he looked back at Minhyuk. He thought that he would immediately check his trophy but he just hurriedly placed it in his arms. Then, he began to talk to the competition’s organizing staff.

[What are they talking about?]

[I’ve never seen Player Minhyuk look so serious before.]

[Ah. I just heard what Player Minhyuk said just now. But…… uhm……]

[What’s wrong?]

The audience were filled with curiosity as they waited for the commentator’s words. Then, the commentator said……

[He, he wants to blow out more candles. H, he kept on asking if can still eat.]

[He’s really like a player.]

Then, the other commentators said……

[Joy Co. Ltd. said that they will help him eat ‘market food’ without blowing the candles.]

[Uhm……? Can you see it now? When User Minhyuk received the MVP trophy, he looked a bit dissatisfied. His expression was even sour. But now, he’s smiling happily like a child.]

[Eyyy. No way.]

[No. It’s really true. He looks so happy that he looks like he would fly away at any moment in elation.]

[Then, let’s replay the video when he received the trophy.]

The screen showed Minhyuk winning the MVP trophy. He muttered something sulkily as he threw the trophy in his inventory as if he was throwing  something useless in a corner. The commentators tried to read what his lips were saying at that time…

[It seems like he was mouthing… ‘Ey! You should give me something delicious. Why give me something like this?’ or something like that. Or, or not?]

[Eyyy. I don’t believe that he’s someone like that. Hahahaha.]

[R, right? Hahahaha.]

Minhyuk was the only one who knew the truth.

***