Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

Minhyuk entered the first floor of the Demon World’s Tower with Roven, one of the creators of the tower. The notifications rang loudly as soon as he entered the place. 

[You have entered the Demon World’s Tower’s 1st floor.]

[The Demon World’s Tower is divided into ‘Trial’ and ‘General’ types. For Trials, there are hardships and trials on every floor. And for the General type, demon villages might appear with regular demon residents in a part of the tower.]

Just like what was said, the Demon World’s Tower was divided into two. It could be a place where demons live or perhaps it could be a place where trials come out. For the trial type, he could infer from the notification that he needed to clear out the area before being able to head to the next floor. And in the case of the general type, it was like a place where one could ‘rest’.

And even though Callauhel was the new record holder in the Demon World’s Tower, there was still a way for him to have his score listed as a new record despite not being the first to climb the tower. And that was if he exceeded the range that the operators had measured and set. That way, his record would become the new record. 

And right now, the designer, Roven, was quite proud. 

“Now, I can break that arrogant nose of yours.” 

He was very confident. In the first place, there were plenty of knowledgeable demons who gathered to complete the design of the Demon World’s Tower. In his eyes, Minhyuk’s words about breaking the record in just a few minutes was just pure conceit. He was clearly just a crazy human talking shit. 

Minhyuk could also see something written at the entrance when the trial on the first floor began. 

[1st Floor, New Record: 25,824 points.]

It was not only Minhyuk who saw this, Roven also saw the new record. When Roven saw the record, he couldn’t help but be surprised. 

‘H, how can this be…… I did not expect someone to achieve 25,000 points on the first floor……!’ 

It was something unbelievable. For a user to climb the Demon World’s Tower’s new record, they needed to exceed 10,000 points. But this was 2.5x more than that.

‘That man back then.’ 

Roven’s eyebrows crumpled. Not too long ago, a man came to the Demon World Shelter. He silently drank tea and before he left for the Demon World’s Tower he heard him speak to his colleagues.

‘Take care of it.’ 

The impact of his short words were quite great. His men, assuming that they were his men, camped in the Demon World Shelter and brutally murdered the powerful users that came in the shelter. At that time, he thought that this was something common. 

Just as he thought about that, Minhyuk and Aruvel began to move. 

“Fufufufufu. You bastard, you’re going to die on the first floor.” 

Roven cursed. Although he couldn’t get inside the trial with Minhyuk, he could still meet up with them once it was over. 

Not long after, Minhyuk and Aruvel went to challenge the first floor.

***

[The 1st Floor Trial will now begin.]

[Rewards will be given once the trial is cleared.]

[A x2 EXP acquisition rate will be received as a special privilege upon achieving a new record.]

There was a small smile hanging around the corners of Minhyuk’s lips when he entered. Then, he also began to film.

[You have started filming a video.]

He was filming a video to fulfill his end from the discussion that he had with the TTBC broadcasting station. Minhyuk planned to continue filming each floor as he continued to climb up. 

Then, another set of notifications rang.

[The Demonic Ghost Unit will be summoned.]

[Demonic Ghost Unit.]

[A small unit that participated in the Great Heavenly Demon War. This troop is composed of outstanding demons that defeated one of the strongest of the Heavenly Race. These demons were born to slaughter and were considered to be the strongest fighters among the demons.]

Based on the personal explanation from the system notification, there were six of them in total. The contents of this trial was something that Minhyuk already knew from Aruvel.

“The trial of the first floor is much more difficult than the other trials above.” 

Aruvel kindly explained the information that he knew in case Minhyuk had forgotten about what he had told him before.

“The reason why the first trial is this difficult is because we are looking for people who are qualified to challenge the rest of the tower. You can say that this is a qualifying floor.”

The Demon World’s Tower was their sacred place. Basically, this was the place where the power of the Demon King and the Four Heavenly Kings resided. That was the reason why they couldn’t just let anyone step in. Only when they were able to clear the first floor would they be able to climb the rest of the tower. 

Then, the notifications rang again.

[From this point on, the Demon Ghost Unit will hunt the demonic monsters. Hunting demonic monsters will give you hunting points.]

[You will be able to clear this floor if you acquire at least 20% of the hunting points acquired by the Demon Ghost Unit.]

[The higher the points you get, the higher your record will be.]

Minhyuk would be able to win if he was able to at least hunt 20% of what the demons hunted. Of course, the Demon World’s Tower was open to a lot of people but because of that, the difficulty was also set to be higher than normal. 

“There’s no way a human can keep up and reach our toes.”

“Challenging the tower, idiot.”

The Demon Ghost Unit cackled. They completely ignored Minhyuk. The Ghost Unit actively participated in the Great Heavenly Demon War in the past so the squad leader was confident in their skills.

At that moment, the space in front of them was torn apart. Then, hundreds of demonic beasts swarmed.

“Kihyaaaaaaack!”

“Graaaaaaaack!”

“Grooooooowl!” 

“Human. Go back. You should see the difference between us.” 

Rockon confidently pulled out his sword as he stepped forward. Then……

Stab―

A hair-raising sound suddenly rang loudly. When Rockon lowered his head, he could see a spear sticking out of his abdomen.

“Ugh!”

Red blood flowed out of his mouth.

“Th, this……!”

Then, Aruvel spoke…

“The tower is incomplete and there are loopholes.”

There was a simple method of clearing this floor.

We only need 20% of their points? If we break this, will we get a new record? Instead of that……

‘If we kill them all……’

It would be a very simple solution to their problem. Although Aruvel got drunk and gave Minhyuk his pocket money(?), he was still the Sage Aruvel. Aruvel was also someone that the Demon Ghost Unit couldn’t easily deal with.

“D, Die!!!”

“Th, this……!”

The demons rushed towards Aruvel. That was when Minhyuk moved. 

“Rain of Kitchen Knives.”

Minhyuk had already prepared the Rain of Kitchen Knives. Once he unleashed his skills, a black kitchen knife fell down on a demonic beast’s body from above.

Spurt―

Then, the rain of kitchen knives began to fall down. 

Shwaaaaaaaaaaa―

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab―

The sound of the demonic beasts being devoured and the Demon Ghost Unit being hunted by Aruvel rang loudly in the first floor. 

“Keuaaaaack!”

“Keoheok!”

In less than 40 seconds, all of the demons on the first floor had collapsed. This feat was only possible since Minhyuk had a very powerful helper in Aruvel’s form. 

Then, the notifications rang.

[Calculating your score.]

[The score calculation attempt has failed.]

“Huh……?” 

Minhyuk couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion. 

You failed to calculate the score?

A moment of silence passed before the notifications rang again.

[Attempting to calculate the scores again.]

[Score calculation has succeeded.]

[You have achieved an impossible score that went beyond what the operators had measured.]

[1st floor cleared. 100,000 points.]

[You have achieved a new record.]

[1st floor cleared. There will be additional rewards added to the new record rewards after achieving 100,000 points.]

[You have acquired 2,500,000 EXP.]

[You have acquired an additional 2,500,000 EXP in compliance with the new record rewards.]

[You have acquired an additional 2,500,000 EXP for achieving an impossible score.]

[You have acquired 10 platinum.]

[You have acquired Italy’s Pizza and Carbonara Spaghetti.]

[You have acquired an additional Steak Plate for achieving an impossible score.]

“Oh……!” 

Minhyuk was surprised. The Italian pizza and carbonara spaghetti, together with the additional steak plate was served in front of him. 

“……This is definitely a steak plate!” 

Minhyuk could tell that this was definitely the steak plate that achieved the highest sales record in Seoga and Cook. The steak plate in front of him had about four slices of pork neck with plenty of vegetables. There was also a long slice of cheese, pineapple and a half-cooked fried egg on top. This steak plate tasted extremely delicious especially with the vegetables that came with it. 

Then, Minhyuk changed the filming mode.

[The filming mode has been changed.]

[You have changed to drone mode. The filming will now resume.]

The drone mode was an expensive add on that the users purchased. Once he chose the drone mode, several drones popped out of nowhere as they began to circle around Minhyuk and film him. 

“Is this how they do it?”

Minhyuk just tilted his head.

Among the several drones that were filming, one of them started filming the food. 

“Hehe! I’ll eat well!”

The first thing that Minhyuk picked was the pizza turner. He placed the pizza turner below the pizza before lifting a slice up. The cheese stretched long as Minhyuk pulled the steaming pizza up. He couldn’t help but gulp his saliva as he placed the pizza down on the plate. 

Then, he put some ice in a glass as he poured some soda inside. His face was filled with a smile. This kind of food was the perfect combination with soda. 

Just like that, he pulled out the parmesan powder that he always had with him. Then, he sprinkled it all over the pizza slice. 

The smell of the rich and creamy cheese wafted through his nose as he lifted the pizza close to his mouth. The cheese stretched down when he took a big bite while pulling the pizza down. The cheese was only cut off when he chewed the pizza with his teeth. In his second bite, he could finally bite the potato and the bacon that were sprinkled on top of the pizza.

The plain and salty taste of the potato, the crispy bacon, the rich and creamy cheese, together with the soft bread combined together and created a harmonious flavor in his mouth. 

Then, he took some pickles from his small jar before placing it in his mouth. 

Crunch, crunch, crunch―

He sucked his fingers as he savored the lovely taste of the pizza and the pickles. After he ate a few slices of pizza, he gulped down the refreshing cola to cleanse his mouth of the greasy flavor.

“Kggghk!”

He couldn’t help but exclaim from the stinging sensation that he felt in his throat.

This time, he aimed his hands towards the carbonara spaghetti. His left hand was holding a spoon while his right hand was holding a fork. Once the noodles were scooped up with his fork, he brought the fork gently towards the spoon before turning it around. Once the spaghetti noodles were turned perfectly, he used his spoon to support the carbonara and placed it in his mouth.

The rich and savory flavor of the carbonara spread in his mouth. Every bite of the noodles made his smile go deeper. Then, he used his spoon to scoop out the white sauce making sure that he scooped up the bacon, mushroom and other toppings before putting it in his mouth.

Abundant and rich.

Those were the words that fit the carbonara in front of him perfectly. 

Finally, he turned towards the steak plate. He quickly cut the pork neck meat. Then, he used his fork to pick the vegetables that were plated beautifully around the meat. When he saw that the fork was filled with vegetables, he went ahead and picked a pork slice making sure that it was covered with the sweet sauce underneath it. Then, he placed it in his mouth.

The sweet and juicy flavor of the meat and sauce spread in his mouth. But that wasn’t the end of it all, the soft and pleasant texture of the meat together with the crunchy and fresh vegetables created a mind-blowing harmony in his mouth. 

This time, instead of the vegetables, he picked a piece of the pineapple with a slice of meat and dipped it in the sauce. The combination of the sweet, sour and fresh pineapple and juicy meat tasted exquisite. 

Minhyuk continued to eat deliciously like that.

“Wow. So delicious.”

A soft smile spread out on Minhyuk’s mouth as he patted his plump stomach. Then, he realized that he was filming. 

“This is how you do it, right? Should I send it like this?”

He decided to send this as an experiment. He believed that it was better to make sure of things like this. So Minhyuk sent the video right away.

[Sending the video file named ‘Demon World’s Tower’s First Floor Attack’ to Nickname TTBC-nim.]

***

Notes

[Seoga and Cook] 서가앤콕 it was actually written as Seoga and Cok. But upon research, it was a parody for Seoga and Cook, a restaurant chain based on SKr owned by S&S company. 

TL's corner!

I want to order pizza.

PR’s corner!

Haven’t left a note in a while. Even the system can’t seem to keep up with our boy Minhyuk!