Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

The expedition set to rescue Prince Argon composed of 150 men and three commanders all set off. The three reinforcements each composed of 50 people under each of the commanders were all named. Eclei’s company was named ‘Iron Blood’, God of Death Bach’s was called ‘Reapers’ while Minhyuk’s company was named ‘Rice Supplement’.

Meanwhile, Bendiaz, the second highest in command after Minhyuk in the Rice Supplement troop, felt that everything was nonsensical.

‘Damn it! This person is our commander?!’ 

Are you telling us that war is a joke? All of the knights here had families waiting for them back home. But you’re telling us that we’ll be called ‘Rice Supplement’? What kind of fucking name is that?

“Bendiaz-nim, if you think that he’s not good at commanding then why don’t you just take it away?” 

“Arthur. Her Majesty has her trust and faith in this man.” 

Another knight from the back suddenly asked.

“But are we just going to die like this?” 

“……Only time will tell.”

The knight beside Bendiaz who fell silent suddenly exclaimed.

“Eh?”

Bendiaz turned his head to look at the knight in question.

“You can’t take command right away but if he made one mistake……”

The knights could understand each other with just that one sentence. 

We’d rather get led by Bendiaz-nim than die.

Then, Benjamin looked at Minhyuk who was standing in front.

‘……How can a man like this be our commander?!’

And before they knew it, they had reached the Immortals’ Land Zone 1.

***

[You have set foot in the Immortals’ Land.]

[This is Zone 1.]

[You can only carry 1kg of food in Immortals’ Land. In the case of other food or food ingredients, you can only carry ingredients infinitely if they can help you be self-sufficient.]

[Most potions and parchments are restricted in the Immortals’ Land.]

[You can’t use items like residential tents in the Immortals’ Land.]

[You also cannot use troops.]

Self-sufficiency! This was one of the reasons why Immortals’ Land was so difficult. Eclei and Bach also brought the least amount of food because of this. In other words, they only brought beef jerky, nuts and the like. Food that was light and could make you feel full as much as possible!

“Ah! It’s really a terrible land!”

This was what Minhyuk said from the rear.

Eclei and Bach continued on to the front until their first battle began. Monsters started to appear one by one. There were at least 60 monsters in front of them and were monsters at Lv400. However, everyone was well aware that their strengths were far beyond that of their levels. In fact, the existing monsters in the Immortals’ Land were mostly ‘Immortal Ogre’ and ‘Immortal Trolls’. However, their appearance had changed.

“What’s this?”

“Is this the effect of the Demon World?”

The skin of the monsters in front of them was unusually dark! 

Not long after, the clash between the monsters and the knights began.

Slash!

Stab! 

Stab! 

Grooooooowl!

Baaaaaang!

“Calmly attack the enemy! Knights! Take your square shield and block the front!”

“Knights! Listen to me, use your spears and pierce the ogres from the gaps of the square shields!”

The God of War Eclei and the God of Death Bach were the ones that were definitely in command. They had begun to clear up the mobs. That was when they knew that the monsters were already strong but they had grown stronger under the influence of magi.

Just when one of the knights was about to announce the successful completion of the first hunt of the subjugation by striking a blow at an ogre that was on the verge of collapse…

Swooooosh!

Thud!

“Keuheeeeeeck!”

“Yay! It hit!”

Eclei turned around to look at the ‘Rice Supplement’ from behind. He could see Minhyuk in front of the troops holding a bow that was covered in blue energy. It was at that moment when a notification rang in Eclei’s head.

[Iron Blood’s contribution has increased by 30 points.]

At the same time, notifications also rang in Minhyuk’s head.

[Rice Supplement’s contribution has increased by 50 points.]

Even in ancient times, the most important thing was the final strike. They had told him earlier to back them up from the rear. And that was their big mistake.

“Hahaha. That’s a great bow. You’re an archer, aren’t you?” 

Eclei smiled awkwardly.

It’s just one hit, so what?

And at that moment……

Another arrow pierced through an ogre’s neck. The ogre was definitely going to keel over and die with just another hit but the arrow was the one that took it’s life.

“Yayy! Bullseye!” 

[Iron Blood’s contribution has increased by 30 points.]

And on the other side……

[Rice Supplement’s contribution has increased by 50 points.]

“……” 

Eclei’s expression was suddenly distorted.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk turned around and shouted.

“Everyone, shoot your bows! Only shoot those who are almost dying!” 

“Yes!!!” 

Then, Minhyuk took something out of his arms. It was none other than a ‘bell’. A bell that looked nice with silvery light flashing under the sunlight. Minhyuk rang the bell without any hesitation.

Clang—

Claaaaang—

At that exact moment, a sacred light stretched and covered the armor, bows and arrows, and swords of the knights under Minhyuk. 

[You have rung Pope Ramas’ Bell.]

[It is as effective as pouring the Pope’s holy water on weapons.]

[Your physical attack and defense and magical attack and defense against the undead or the beings from the Demon World has increased by 1.2x.]

[Your probability of landing a critical hit against the undead or the beings from the Demon World has increased by 30%.]

“……Heok!!!” 

The knights shouted in alarm. They were shocked that Minhyuk could bring Pope Ramas’ Bell out.

He had received this bell from Pope Carunu. Just when he was about to leave the church with Ruth and the knights, Pope Carunu had arrived at the Athenae Temple. He had given him ‘Ramas’ Bell’ as a gift in thanks for saving the Athenae believers. This bell was a legendary artifact that had limitless power.

(Ramas’ Bell)

Rank: Legendary

Restriction: Minhyuk’s attributed artifact.

Durability: ∞/∞

Special Abilities: 

— Increases your holy power by 10% just by possessing the artifact alone.

— Active Skill: Pope Ramas’ Bell

— Active Skill: God’s Miracle

Description: This bell is the third of the Pope’s Treasures. The 13th Pope, Ramas, was said to have escaped the clutches of death in the Demon World by ringing this bell.  It was said that he was able to survive by leaving the Demonic Humans and Demonic Races in pain and distress after ringing the bell once.

The active skill God’s Miracle has the power to let the undead or the demonic beings suffer even with just the slightest ring of the bell. The skill had a very long cooldown and could only allow him to use the skill once every two weeks. However, the range was wider than what he had expected so he thought that the cooldown was justified.

Then, Minhyuk said……

“Focus only on those that are almost dying!” 

At the end of his words, Minhyuk pulled the strings of his bow once more and shot an arrow.

Thud!

[A critical hit!]

The ogre that was shot with a critical hit collapsed in just one hit. Along with his shot, the Rice Supplement company started moving. They quickly knocked their arrows on their bows and started shooting. They did just like what Minhyuk said.

Thud!

Chiiiiiiiik!

“Keuaaack!” 

Thud!

Chiiiiiiiik!

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrack!” 

The ogres began to collapse one after the other.

The knights of the Iron Blood and Reapers that were fighting in front with the mobs felt like they were in hell.

‘I have been working very hard, you know……!’ 

‘They’re taking everything!!!’ 

Then, Minhyuk spoke again.

“Caleman, Neville, Cody, Lark!” 

“Yes!” 

“Forward!” 

Minhyuk and some knights began to run forward.

Eclei’s face crumpled in annoyance when he tried to acquire the items after the monsters had died.

[You have no acquisition rights.]

[There are 3 minutes left before the acquisition rights get lifted.]

“……!” 

His face was now thoroughly distorted. And it was at that moment when Minhyuk appeared in front of him!

“Jackpot! It’s an item! Hurry up and pick up the spoils, everyone!” 

“Oooooooh!” 

And to everybody else’s chagrin, they quickly fell back after they had picked up the items that dropped.

Thud, thud.

“Yes! Bullseye!” 

And they started to play LH again. Eclei’s Iron Blood and Bach’s Reapers were all left dumbfounded.

‘What kind of dogshit situation is this……’

‘Shit……! Those bastards!!!’ 

The arrows fired by the knights from behind were very powerful. As soon as their arrows pierced the enemies, the sound Chiiiiiiiik— would ring loudly as if the bodies of the mobs were being burned with fire. It was clearly caused by the bell that they had seen earlier.

And once Minhyuk saw that most of the monsters had died, he would run with some of the knights, acquire the items and fall back again. In other words, it was the method of killing two birds with one stone with no effort at all!

[You have leveled up!]

“Yay! I leveled up! Hehehe!” 

“……” 

And being annoying was just a bonus.

‘I, I want to beat you into a pulp……!’ 

But they couldn’t bring themselves to do that since they were the ones who told him to fall back in the rear and that they could acquire and eat the items that they had the acquisition rights for. What was worse was that the Rice Supplement was not causing any disruptions in their battles. In a way, they were even eliminating the risks for them so they couldn’t say that they were ‘rudely’ acting up against them.

‘It’s one hell of a situation.’ 

And at that moment, Eclei saw that the wounds of his members were all recovering slowly. Even though their wounds were recovering very slowly, they were still recovering naturally.

During large scale battles, the commanders could choose to have the HP and MP bars of the NPCs under them float over their heads so they could see their situation. 

“…..!” 

It was obviously something that Eclei could only see. He could tell the reason straight away.

‘Th, the power of the mineral viridite……!’ 

The power of the minerals were not explicitly stated and you had to check it for yourself and it seemed like the mineral that was in his hands had the power of ‘natural recovery’.

‘This natural recovery skill……! It does not even consume any HP!!!!!!!’ 

Just as he was being surprised, there was also another person who was caught in surprise. It was none other than Bendiaz. Bendiaz watched as the knights shot their arrows from their bows.

‘Our knights can shoot arrows to some extent but can they really shoot this well?’ 

Knights would learn a variety of things from a young age. But right now, their skills looked like they had gone from ordinary to excellent. He was left in doubt. He did not know about it but it was because of the antarinium that was shining slightly from Minhyuk’s arms.

While Bendiaz was busy being surprised by something else, Minhyuk was hurriedly giving his orders.

“Luca, Cade, Perdy. You guys take care of the aggro!!” 

“Yes!!!” 

“Wh, who said something about being a stupid commander…… Isn’t he a genius commander……” 

It seemed like he had used a trick of a veteran commander. The Iron Blood and Reapers suffered considerable damage as they fought in front. Meanwhile, they did not have any of the slightest injuries as they stayed behind and assisted from the rear.

The knights were all in a buzz.

“……Isn’t Commander-nim something?” 

“Isn’t he better than what we expected?”

“Wow…… Amazing……!”

“We don’t get hurt and we even get the spoils, isn’t this completely amazing?”

And notifications started to go off on Minhyuk’s side.

[You have acquired 1 charisma.]

[Your favorability with Knight Cardy has increased.]

[Your favorability with Knight Acas has increased.]

[Your favorability with Knight Arthur has increased.]

[You have acquired 1 charisma.]

[The soldiers’ morale has increased.]

[You have acquired 3 charisma.]

[God’s Bet. The % of the 2nd clause, Commanding Ability, has increased.]

Minhyuk heard Bendiaz muttering under his breath. He was running around earlier shouting ‘Yahoo! Assarabia Colombia!’ and plenty of other things like that. But he paused beside Bendiaz for a moment and said……

“We’re going for the fastest method with minimal damage and maximum profit.”

“…..!”

That was when Bendiaz realized that this person had planned everything.

Strangely enough, even though a person was good, people would only whisper about the bad or hateful things that he had done instead of his good deeds. 

‘Ah. He’s changed now.’

‘He used to be nice but he doesn’t look like he’s doing anything good these days, right?’

What was even strange was that a person with a bad personality would speak about someone else’s good deeds.

‘Hey, he’s gotten a lot better lately~’

‘He’s gotten really nice lately. So cool. Just like a real handsome guy!’

Humans were truly strange animals. 

From the very beginning, he had let them think differently. And when it came to their expectations, he met them differently from what they had expected.

‘This person took advantage of it!!!’ 

And Minhyuk received another set of notifications.

[Your favorability with Knight Bendiaz has increased.]

[Your favorability with Knight Bendiaz has increased.]

[Your favorability with Knight Bendiaz has increased.]

[You have acquired 5 charisma.]

They continued their strategy again and again. In this way, the three companies moved on from the Immortals’ Land Zone 1. Along the way, Eclei found out that Minhyuk’s contributions were significantly higher than theirs. He could easily see since the contributions to God’s Bet could be checked anytime.

[1. Iron Blood. 35,513]

[2. Reapers. 39,113]

[3. Rice Supplement. 48,240]

He thought that this couldn’t go on like this anymore so Eclei approached Minhyuk.

“Your support from the rear is truly remarkable.” 

“Hehe. I’m pretty good, right?! Thanks.” 

This man’s words are so annoying that I want to bite off his head. 

Eclei laughed awkwardly as he continued to talk.

“From now on, don’t do LH and use your soldiers to attack the monsters head on. We’ll be able to take care of things more quickly this way.” 

In other words, he was trying to tell him to stop doing LH and they would be the one who would do it. Bach and Eclei glared at him fiercely as if they were trying to pressure him. They were also under pressure since they were only able to eat up the items moderately.

The three companies had to go together. If they kicked out Minhyuk then they would have to move forward with only 50 people. If they did that, then they would definitely suffer and get annihilated. Once they were annihilated, Empress Ellie would definitely know that they were annihilated because they recklessly pushed him away.

In a way, this was some form of blackmail. They thought that since this man would gladly accept their terms since he looked like he was foolishly nice. But the man in front of them, Minhyuk, just grinned at them as he said…..

“But I don’t want to?”

***

Notes

LH (Last Hit) – originally written as 막타 which is abbr for 마지막 + 타격 which is literally final hit. It’s a term they usually use in LoL. Anyone who deals the last hit will get plenty of money, artifacts and drops. I don't play LoL so someone has to confirm if this info is really true. Huehue