Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

66 Delicious Expedition

Oh Changwook sat on the sofa with a gloomy look on his face.

The TV was turned on right in front of him and was tuned in to the game channel, ATV. It was the channel that attracted the most viewers among the existing game channels in the country. The reason why it was the most popular channel compared to other game channels was because ATV broadcasted new job classes and various quests everyday as well as the special methods to target and acquire them.

At that moment, Lee Jinhwan, with a cup of coffee in his hand, approached Changwook. Changwook looked like he had lost everything in his world as he watched the TV.

“What seems to be the problem? Changwookie.”

“Huh?” 

Jinhwan tilted his head at him while Changwook covered his face with his hands.

“Got dumped?” 

“I confessed to Hyejin but she thought that it was just a lie! Why? The atmosphere was clearly nice too……!”

“Hmm……?”

Lee Jinhwan tilted his head in confusion.

It seemed like the Immortal Great Wizard Changwook had attempted to make a solo escape. But with the way things are, it looked like things did not turn out the way he thought it would.

“Did I make a mistake? I sent her a ka-talk message, replied a few times and even read and chewed every word.” 

“By any chance, can I see your ka-talk messages?”

Changwook handed him his mobile phone.

“……” 

Jinhwan couldn’t help but look at Changwook blankly after he saw the messages.

[Changwook: I love you Hyejin-ssi! Please date me!]

[Hyejin: Eh? OMG…..!]

[Changwook: To be honest, I couldn’t tell you until now because I thought that I was still not ripe but I really like you!]

[Hyejin: Ripe……?]

[Changwook: Yes. I’m not ripe.]

[Hyejin:…… Ripe, ripe! Hey, super ripe, ripe! Ripe, ripe! Ripe, ripe! What can we do if our Changwookie is still not ripe…… This is too old!]

[Changwook:……?]

“No, isn’t the spelling wrong……? And I can’t believe that you just told her that you love her with no rhyme or reason at all. Boy, you really don’t have a love bone in your body!”

“Yes?”

Jinhwan looked at him incredulously.

“It’s not ripe, it’s sociable.”

“……It’s not the same?”

Jinhwan clicked his tongue at him. He thought that this was perhaps the reason why Changwook had defended his title of being an Immortal Great Wizard for quite a long time.

Then, at that moment……

[Virtual Reality Game: Athenae. There’s an imminent outbreak of a major war!!!]

The sound from the TV caught their attention. The voice that rang loudly in their ears was the voice that shouted ‘America’s Box Office Number 1!!!’ in movie trailers every day. Although no one knew how there could always be a movie that topped the box office every day.

Then, along with his voice, the scene on the screen changed. The screen showed the Elves’ Land that had not yet been opened to the public.

[Kyaaaaaack!]

[Run away!]

[Praise Verus-nim!]

[Verus-nim will paint the whole world in disasters!]

The Demon Worshippers shouted loudly as portals cracked open. And from those cracks, demonic monsters as well as other demonic races came out. And in the middle of it, there stood an Elf. An elf with their pointy and sharp ears. The elf looked like he was knocking an arrow on his bow even though there was no arrow at all. But as soon as he let go of the bow……

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

Hundreds of arrows shot the demonic humans, demonic monsters and other demonic races.

[Elf King Coronesia! There are too many enemies coming in! You have to retreat!]

[My heart is bleeding. If I did that then our Elven Forest would be painted in hell!]

[But we have no other choice!]

[……I think it’s time to make use of our hundred year promise with the humans.]

[Hundred year promise?]

[That’s right. Hundred year promise. We would be able to get help from the humans with this hundred year promise. Send the High Elves now!]

[Yes!]

Then, the scene on the screen changed again. It showed Ellie, the Empress of the Eivelis Empire and Asvon, the Emperor of Cordis Empire, sitting face to face.

[I think it’s time for us to have a cease-fire. Ellie.]

[I agree. The elves had asked us to make good of the hundred year promise. Based on the hundred year promise, we will lend them a hand when they’re on the brink of extinction. And they will pay a reasonable price as compensation for helping them. The gate to the Demon World has opened in the Elven Forest. After they ravage the Elven Forest then they will target us next.]

[Let’s have a truce for a while.]

The two people shook their hands together in agreement. Then, they kept on talking.

[It seems like we will need the strength of the foreigners to stop and close the gates to the Demon World.]

[Let’s set up an army and send out a subjugation force.]

Along with their words, the story about the great and massive war was shown which was followed by the next words.

[New Episode. The Invasion of the Demon World.]

1 Elves will appear in every village.

2 You can get a variety of quests from the elves.

3 You can proceed with the quest to prevent the invasion of the Demon World through your affiliated Empire.

4 Depending on your level of activity, you can convert your contributions to war points.

5 War points can be exchanged for various things such as artifacts, skillbooks and EXP books through the special elves in the village.

6 Additional information can be found in the Official Athenae Home Page. Have a nice Athenae, everyone!

“Oh……!”

“Weren’t you just sulky earlier?”

Jinhwan clicked his tongue when he saw Changwook’s face regaining vitality in an instant after sulking for quite a long time in front of the television.

Changwook immediately went to check the official home page of Athenae to check about the elves. He saw that the elves would receive their points and they could exchange for things that they wanted with them. In particular, the items that the elves sold were things that were rare and had never been released before.

Then, Changwook turned and asked aloud.

“Perhaps there’s something good to eat with the elves?”

He pondered deeply about this possibility.

“A gorgonzola pizza made with the elves’ honey, elves’ dark beer, elves’ bibimbap…… hmm……”

An idea flashed through Changwook’s head.

“This is 100% perfect for Minhyukie!!”

***

Minhyuk could see that the presence in front of him was the previous Food God, Allen. This was his first time ever meeting him.

Currently, Minhyuk’s level had shot through Lv380 in an instant.

“Hoo. You’re not as fat as I thought. Rather, you look very tiny and small.”

“The Food God is the same too.”

Minhyuk smiled at him. He couldn’t help but be pleased with his appearance since he was also a man who loved to eat as much as himself.

“I don’t have a lot of time. I can only stay here for a while.”

It made sense since the Food God was already dead. 

“Have you checked my request?”

“Not yet.”

“Look at it.”

Minhyuk immediately checked the contents of the quest.

[Class Quest: The Food God’s Bet.]

Rank: SS

Restrictions: Food God

Rewards: Will depend on your achievements.

Penalty for Failure: None.

Description: The Food God was an outstanding commander who had many subordinates and vassals under him during his lifetime. The Food God was a brilliant commander who shined brightly during war. However, the Gods of that time had told him that his descendant right now would only love to eat and would be lazy and weak. So the Gods made a bet. Most of the God Class users or above will receive this quest through different methods and with different rewards. You can prove that the Food God is no longer a job class that only thinks about eating. But you can still say no and it will be alright if you don’t want to compete.

1 When 100% of your enemies had been shot and killed: Food God’s Bizzare Tteokbokki Set.

2 When 100% of your commanding ability has been displayed: Food God’s Spicy Chicken Feet Set.

3 When you get the highest contribution among the three Gods that participated in the bet: Acquire the Food God’s Kitchen Knife.

It was a special quest that would not mete out any penalty even if he failed. It was also a class quest that did not have anything to do with the five God’s Legacy Dishes.

The other gods thought that the Food God’s descendants would be lazy and weak?

It was laughable. However, to some extent, Food God Allen couldn’t help but agree. The transfer to the Food God Class was all about eating. First, they had to fill their fullness stat until 10/10 then they had to choose the pig instead of the legendary class, Berserker. It was truly about food and food alone! This was the reason why it was quite hard for his descendants to have a strong presence.

But Allen was able to gauge his strength. Then, he reached his hand out slowly.

“Boy, I wonder how far you’ve gone in your journey. Will you take this stone?”

Minhyuk reached  his hands out and grabbed the stone in Allen’s hand. It was an energy stone. The energy stone could gauge the power of the person holding the stone but it would not be able to gauge the strength of someone with a strength of around Lv470 or higher.

When Minhyuk held the stone……

Crack ,crack, crack, crack—

Allen’s eyes widened in shock when he heard the sound of cracking coming out of his hands.

‘Wh, what the hell…… this sound……’

Food God Allen was flustered. Just like what was mentioned earlier, the energy stone would not be able to gauge the power of someone around Lv470 or higher.

Even though it was an average of all of his skills, stats and the artifacts that he’s wearing…… he has a force above Lv500?

Then, it broke. 

Flop!

The energy stone broke in Minhyuk’s hands.

“Boy…… What have you been doing so far……”

Food God Allen looked at him in shock. He knew that the breaking of the energy stone meant that his general strength was at least at Lv500 or higher.

***

Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion when he saw Allen’s shocked face.

“I’ve just been working hard and enjoying my meals. Just like you, Food God-nim!!”

He answered Allen’s question cheerfully. When Allen saw his bright smile, he couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

“You truly are my descendant!”

“Eyy. That’s still a long way off. Don’t you think that I still need to be able to eat roasted fish with Dragon’s Breath to be called a proper descendant of yours?”

“Ah. Right. You haven’t tried it yet, right? Boy? If you eat it after fully roasting it with Dragon’s Breath, the smell of smoke will spread in your mouth……”

Gulp.

The two people gulped their saliva at the same time. It seemed like they truly were working at the same wavelength.

“Ah. Wait, wait. I don’t have enough time. Will you be accepting my bet?”

“Of course. The rewards……”

Allen shook his head when he saw Minhyuk’s excitement.

“That’s right. Aren’t the rewards great?!!!”

“I’m very, very, very happy! I will definitely make all of that happen!”

The rewards written in the quest were the epitome of midnight snacks. The Bizarre Tteokbokki Set and the Spicy Chicken Feet Set.

Although very occasional, there would be days like that when you crave spicy food. Those days usually happened when someone was extremely stressed out. And during those stressed out days, one would definitely order the Bizarre Tteokbokki set as well as the Spicy Chicken Feet Set.

He could imagine himself lifting the lid of the tteokbokki set and seeing the melted cheese that was glowing in white light. Underneath the cheese was the red tteokbokki as well as the vienna sausages and dumplings. There were also soft and plump boiled eggs inside.

Eating the spicy tteokbokki and chicken feet would definitely make him sweat and say ‘Slurp— Ho!’ with the delicious hotness of the food. The spiciness and heat would make him hurry and reach out for a drink of cold and refreshing Julpis. Minhyuk personally preferred the peach flavor among the variety that Julpis offered. He was sure that the refreshing and cool Julpis would definitely wash away the tingling in his mouth. Continuously eating the spicy and bizarre tteokbokki would definitely cause him pleasurable pain but just like the demon’s temptation, he would definitely keep on reaching out for more! And after eating the tteokbokki, he would then set his sights on the spicy chicken feet.

After those thoughts crossed his mind, he believed that he definitely had to do this.

“Food God-nim, is the Food God’s kitchen knife the artifact that you used in the past?”

“Yes. It has a very, very special and amazing power.” 

However, Minhyuk was not interested in anything else aside from food. Looking at him, Allen smiled pleasantly.

“As expected of my descendant! Yes! You should know this!” 

“Eyy. What will I do with an artifact that I won’t be able to eat?” 

“Right. It’s something you can’t eat. I also wanted all of the rewards for you to be food but God Athenae stopped me!!!” 

“Hahahahaha! That would definitely be a happy thing!” 

The two of them really hit it off.

Meanwhile, Corr and Rowena muttered to themselves as they watched the scene in front of them.

“I’m going nuts.” 

“It’s like I’m watching a gluttonous dad and his son……” 

Then, Minhyuk suddenly thought of something.

“Ah! Do you have any special cooking utensils?” 

“Special cooking utensils?” 

“Yes. I got a Half-God Artifact Production Method.” 

Minhyuk spoke quietly but Allen’s eyes couldn’t help but widen in shock.

‘N, no. What in the world were you doing?!!’

Half-God Artifact Production Method?

Allen knew the power that it held. He also knew one piece of information. The special treasures of those beings. When one collected all the treasures they would be able to produce any type of artifact that they wanted.

Allen gulped as he nodded his head.

“There is. A very amazing artifact. But, you’re still a long way off.” 

“Where is it?” 

“Demon World.” 

***

Notes

Regarding Changwook’s Problems: He typed 숙기가 없어요 (lit. not ripe) but he was supposed to type 숫기가 없어요 (lit. bashful/ not sociable/shy). 숙기 = ripe and  숫기 = sociable, active extrovert. He really spelled it wrong…