Leveling Up through Eating

Chapter 3.2

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

Chirp chirp! 

Minhyuk could hear the birds chirping.

As he slowly opened his eyes he could see a man wearing leather armor complete with a sword on his waist.

“Welcome. Your game will start here in Ardo. I am Valen, your basic training instructor.”

There were countless beginners in Athenae’s novice zone and he’s just one amongst the many.

‘An NPC?’

Compared to Versal, this NPC looks very realistic.

This is impressive.

He gave Minhyuk, who stood in a daze, a wooden sword.

“Your basic training quest will begin right now.”

Ding! 

A window appeared in front of Minhyuk.

[Quest: Hit the Scarecrow 50 times] 

Rank: Tutorial

Limit: None

Rewards: +1 Bonus point, 10x Hard Bread, 10x Bottled Water

Penalty for Failure: None

Description: You have just started playing Athenae. Learn how to attack by hitting the scarecrow fifty times.

“The Quest Window can be opened by thinking or saying quest.”

Valen explained, however even after all of that there was only one thing that caught Minhyuk’s attention.

And that was…

‘B-bread…?’

Yes, bread.

Flour.

The enemy of everyone who’s dieting.

And yet…

It is considered to be one of the most delicious foods in the world.

Grooowl! 

It seems that he’s already a bit hungry and if he doesn’t eat anything right now he would probably get sick soon.

“Heh… Uhmm, can’t you give me that 10 loaves of hard bread in advance?”

“No.”

Valen was strict. Minhyuk felt sullen for a moment but he soon grabbed his sword tightly.

‘I… I want to eat that bread!’

Try eating 5000 cherry tomatoes everyday and you’ll probably want to eat that bread too. 

Minhyuk approached the scarecrow and tried to get some feel on his movements.

‘M… My body feels as light as a feather!’

To him, it felt like he just let go of that hundreds of kilograms of weight.

He grabbed his wooden sword and struck with all his strength.

Slash! 

His strikes were clean and precise. Swinging a sword was no different from other exercises he had done since he already tried them all. All of that just so he could lose a bit of weight.

His body was entirely different inside the game. In this place he could move fast and not be breathless, and for Minhyuk this could already count as a great source of joy.

“M… my body is as light as a feather!”

Minhyuk kept on striking the scarecrow while he shouted in happiness.

Slash! 

Slash! 

His movements became swift and controlled.

Slash! 

Slash! 

As time went by, he started getting used to his body.

“T… too fast!”

“Did he do kendo [1] outside?”

The people around him were amazed. The other users had already collapsed after just 30 strikes, some were even gasping for air. On the other hand, Minhyuk continued to swing his sword.

Slash! 

Slash! 

He worked out for four hours every day. He would work out hard to the point where he even wanted to puke. So for him, this was a piece of cake.

Slash! 

Slash! 

He only stopped after finishing all of the 50 strikes.

[Quest: Hit the Scarecrow 50 times – Completed] 

[+1 Bonus Point acquired]

[Additional Rewards can be received from Instructor Valen] 

He saw Instructor Valen approaching him.

“Good job. Your movements were neat and precise, I can’t wait to see what you would become in the future. You have probably been notified about the bonus point too.”

Minhyuk nodded.

“You can see your stats window by thinking about it or saying it, you can place your bonus points wherever you want them. If you increase your strength, your physical attack will increase by +3, the weight you can carry as well as your HP will increase… mumble mumble… “

If he increased his strength, his physical attack would increase by +3, and his HP would increase by +1.

On the other hand, if he increased his agility then his physical defense would increase by +3 and his attack speed and movement speed would increase by +1.

Increasing his stamina would increase HP by +10.

Increasing his wisdom would increase his MP by +10.

And if he increased his intelligence then his magical attack would increase by +3.

These were the 5 basic stats. This goes to show that he researched a lot of basic information before he logged in.

“Stats Window.”

A hologram popped out in front of him

(Minhyuk) 

Level: 1

Class: None

HP: 55   MP: 50

STR: 5  AGI: 5  STM: 5

WIS: 5  INT: 5

Fullness: 70%

Bonus Point: +1

According to Changwook, it will be more useful if I increase my STR first.

Minhyuk was quickly dragging the bonus point to his STR when he saw Valen holding a heavy bag in front of him.

When the bag was opened, he saw ten loaves of dry bread and ten bottles of water.

“Good job. Similarly, you can put these in your inventory by thinking or saying ‘Keep’.” 

Minhyuk nodded furiously as he smiled brightly.

“I’ve never seen a guy who’s so happy with receiving these rewards.”

Valen smiled lightly when he saw him smiling as if he received the greatest gift in the world.

Minhyuk suddenly heard other people talking.

“Ew, what kind of bread is this?!”

The male user’s expression crumpled when he chewed the hard bread. This was the user who received a heavy bag before Minhyuk.

“A roasted rock would taste better than this.”

The user grumbled on and on.

“Tch. They don’t even know how to appreciate these small things.”

Valen clicked his tongue.

If you wanted to eat something nice then go ahead and become strong. 

This was common sense in this game.

Isn’t hard bread enough for novices? 

Then…

“Oh.”

He heard someone exclaiming.

“Hmm?”

Valen turned around and saw Minhyuk admiring the smell of the bread.

‘How long has it been? This is the smell of flour, so fragrant!’

Is it rice bread? Or beer bread? Or maybe it’s brown rice bread? The bread that’s good for your body? [2]

It’s done! Minhyuk has decided that flour-based bread is the best.

When he finished savoring the smell of the bread, he slowly put a piece in his mouth.

Crunch! 

It’s true. The bread is hard and cold. 

It felt like he was chewing on the outside part of a baguette, however once you put it in your mouth and roll it around with your tongue it would slowly soften.

He savored it completely and swallowed. He was so moved by the taste that he completely gobbled it up.

“D-delicious…”

It’s really delicious. 

The reason why Minhyuk kept on eating vegetables was because he wanted to stay away from instant and salty food so he could stay healthy and not gain weight. This was also the reason why he has not eaten any bread for nearly 2 years.

He found it so delicious that he couldn’t stop wolfing it down.

“Is… Is it really that delicious?”

“Yes, it’s delicious. It’s truly mouthwatering!”

Minhyuk answered while nodding furiously. It was so delicious that it even made him tear up.

Valen unconsciously smiled at him.

‘The people who enter these days only know how to complain about these rewards.’

Maybe this boy is special. 

“If you continue to strike for another 50 times, you’ll receive 10 additional loaves of hard bread and 10 bottles of water. It’s just that there will be no more additional bonus points. However, you can also choose to exit this zone and start your proper hunting tutorial.”

Minhyuk was so moved when he heard the instructor say ‘I will give you more bread’.

“Are you really just going to give me bread for nothing?”

“It’s not for nothing, you have to strike the scarecrow for another 50 times.”

Does that mean that I can continue to get ten loaves of hard bread and ten bottles of water just for 50 strikes? 

In a way, it’s like the game would give an infinite amount of rewards for free, but no user in the world would do this.

If you’re a game player, you would definitely not waste your time on tasteless bread and water and would want to go and have fun doing real hunting instead.

Minhyuk was already savoring his fifth hard bread.

[Your fullness has reached 100%]

[Fullness will not increase with intake of more food.]

***

Footnotes

[1] Kendo: A traditional japanese martial art descended from swordsmanship, they use bamboo swords and protective armor

[2] You will find that there are a lot of different types of bread. It is entirely dependent on their main ingredient. Rice bread uses rice flour, beer bread adds bear or alcoholic beverages, brown rice bread uses brown rice flour.

***

Game Attributes (Definition and Abbreviation) 

HP (Health Point) : amount of health of the player

MP (Mana Point) : amount of magic power of the player

Attack (ATK) : physical attack, causes damage to opponent

Defense (DEF) : physical defense, reduces the atk damage suffered by the player

Intelligence (INT) : highly related to logic and reasoning

Stamina (STM) : how long a player can last

Strength (STR) : physical power and carrying capacity, reduces opponent DEF points

Agility (AGI) : nimbleness and reflexes

Speed (SPD) : how fast a player is

Wisdom (WIS) : related to self-awareness, perception and insight

***

TL notes

I will refer to their abbr. for the following chapters if they will be included. Also, lmao at flour based bread is the best. Aren’t all bread flour-based???? Kek.

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