Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks 

QC: MattForgenti

Learning cooking skills would definitely guarantee an increase in the quality of cooking but most importantly, it would improve the taste and flavor of the dish. 

One would also be able to gain the Dexterity stat when learning cooking skills. 

Dexterity stat. 

It was a stat that could be very helpful in any area of expertise. However, it was also a stat that was very difficult to increase. 

In addition, once a user invests in the dexterity stat, the flavor and taste of the dish would have a significant increase in quality. But the increase in flavor and taste would remain insignificant unless the dexterity stat was raised to 20.

For example, when a user increased their STR they would get an increase of +3 in their physical attack. In the case of the dexterity stat, increasing it to +20 would only result in a +1 in the flavor. 

However, what was the reason why Minhyuk was playing this game? 

Wasn’t it because he wanted to enjoy food? 

Because of the reasons stated above, Minhyuk liked to hone his dexterity stat.

However there was one problem. 

‘The dexterity stat, like the reputation point, can’t be increased with bonus points. 

Furthermore, the dexterity stat could only be increased through repetitive processes or in special circumstances where the user created something spectacular. 

‘I heard that repeatedly practicing the skill that one mastered will let me gain a dexterity point.’ 

If I repeatedly practiced cooking skills then I will be able to gain dexterity points. 

It was the same with all the other skills that required the dexterity stat. If the user continuously practiced the skill, then they would be able to increase their dexterity stat. 

“Yes. I will be thankful if you will teach me. I will definitely do my best to learn the skills you will impart!” 

[Quest: Acquisition of Cooking Skills]

Rank: C

Limit: Favorability with Len. 

Rewards: Cooking skills

Penalty for Failure: You won’t be able to learn cooking skills for 3 months. 

Description: The skilled chef Len told you that he will teach you how to cook. The basic skill needed to cook is cutting, chopping and slicing. Fill your Knife Skill bar to 100%!

“Well, go on and I’ll show me how you hold a knife.” 

Len held out a blue kitchen knife towards Minhyuk. He then proceeded to tell him how to hold a knife. He pointed out where Minhyuk should place his fingers and how to hold it properly. 

“To hold a knife properly, you have to mainly use your thumb and index finger. Your other three fingers are used as support. Grab the top of the blade of the knife with your thumb and index finger. Tighten your hold on it so the knife will be stabilized. Normally, others would grab the handle of the knife with all five of their fingers.”

“Aha, I see. So that’s how you do it.” 

In fact, that was how Minhyuk held the knife before. 

“You may have noticed that the color of the knife and the chopping board are the same. Do you know the reason?” 

“Did you match the color of the knife and the chopping board? I see… Hmm. Is it because it’s only used to chop vegetables?” 

“Oh. Boy, how did you know?” 

Len looked at Minhyuk with surprise. 

As a matter of fact, Minhyuk has always been watching them closely as they cooked. 

They used the six-degree edge [1] red knife and the red chopping board when they were cutting meat while the blue knife and chopping board were only used when they were chopping vegetables. 

“Unlike what people see from the outside, there are rules and regulations in the kitchen. This is one of the most basic rules. What should you do if you discovered a restaurant that’s using only one chopping board for all of their ingredient processing?” 

“I’ll report them!” 

“That’s right.” 

Len smiled at him.

He already thought about teaching Minhyuk how to cook before. After all, it was his promise and quest reward. However, the more he talked to him, the more greedy he became. 

‘His eyes are sparkling.’ 

He looks like a student who thoroughly enjoys studying. He also treats the soldiers well. He is very kind to everyone. 

Minhyuk started to chop an onion with the knife in his hands. 

“Wait.” 

Len stopped him. 

“Eh?” 

“You’re pushing the knife. What you’re doing is not chopping but crushing.” 

“Ah…” 

“You have to pull and slice it. There are a lot of reasons why you have to pull then slice, one of them is because of freshness.” 

“Freshness?” 

“Yeah, if you pull and slice at it then the onion will be kept fresh longer. You should push the onion together with the knuckles of your left hand as you slice it so it would not go awry.” 

“Oh…!” 

It was very useful information. Minhyuk could even feel that his skills have leveled up just by listening to it.

Len teached him for a bit before going out. Then he came back bringing a sack over. The sack was filled with radishes. 

“These are all bad radishes. We didn’t throw it away because Brock uses it for knife practice. Use these to practice.” 

“Yes!” 

“Boy. You’re not going to chop it with that mysterious skill of yours, right?” 

“No, sir. He……” 

In fact, he could use that method. However, learning how to use the knife was a part of the experience. It was a way to learn cooking skills. 

“Ah, you can eat the hard bread, soft bread and milk left in the storage. You can also eat the leftover spaghetti from the meal earlier.” 

“Oh, oh, oooooooh……! Thank you! Captain Len, you’re the best!” 

Look at him. 

Len became more friendly towards Minhyuk since he was always working hard. He thought of some things as he went out of the kitchen. 

‘It will take him one whole day to slice it all up.’ 

As soon as he was out of sight, Minhyuk started cutting the radishes. 

Tak…… Tak…… Tak……

It was clear with the sound that he was not very skilled at it however, Minhyuk felt extremely happy while he was doing it. 

‘I can make more delicious food!’ 

It was a fact that whatever Minhyuk did, he did it to the utmost of his abilities. 

A person cannot fully express their happiness as they did something completely new and different. 

An hour flew by in a flash.

His skill was still as lousy as in the beginning. However, he was already starting to gain confidence.

He continued to chop the hard radish after a short break. 

“Yoo, new recruit. Are you doing well?” 

“Yes!” 

“Let’s see.” 

Brock stood beside him to check on his work. He had a shocked expression on his face once he saw his work. 

‘What the hell, why is he so good at it?’ 

He’s better than what I thought. 

Minhyuk’s radishes were still a bit messy and sloppy but he was quite fast. 

Usually, skilled chefs would use the knife with little error but at a fast speed. This was because there were cases where there was a need for plenty of ingredients but there were bound to be gaps or intervals if one was a beginner. 

Four hours later… 

Taktaktaktak! 

Minhyuk was still chopping the radishes. 

Suddenly, he frowned. 

“Ayaa……” 

If a person continuously grabbed on the top of the blade of the knife with his thumb and index finger, then there’s bound to be blisters forming on it. 

Minhyuk looked at the bright red spot on his hand. It was tingling in pain but it was fine. 

After 4 more hours… 

Taktaktaktaktaktak! 

The gaps were starting to decrease. 

Brock, who came back to check on him, was astonished. 

“You, you’ve been using the knife all this time?! Ever since earlier?!” 

“Yes, that’s right!” 

Minhyuk answered him lightly. Brock shook his head at him in defeat. 

“Are your hands not hurting?” 

“It’s fine. I feel like I’m getting a bit better!” 

His proficiency with the knife increased to 68% after chopping for almost half a day. 

‘What kind of strong-will does this person have?’ 

When he started learning from Len, he only practiced for 1 hour every day. It was because his fingers hurt so much. 

Minhyuk has already finished one sack and was already reaching out for another. 

Tatatatatatatatak! 

The sound of the knife was rhythmic. If you only listened to it, you would think that this was a restaurant’s kitchen. 

Brock was very shocked to see this. 

‘The gap…… There’s almost none……!’ 

Minhyuk was probably unaware but the more his skill increased the more proficient he was in handling the knife. 

This was because Minhyuk did not even rest at all and continued to improve his knife skills! 

Tatatatatatatatata! 

Minhyuk finished chopping the radish. 

‘T, the radish did not move……!’ 

When he was chopping the radish… It did not move. But the knife moved.

From the outside, it only seemed like there were lines drawn on the radish but the moment Minhyuk pressed on the radish with the blade of his knife… the radish was laid down and all of the chopped pieces could be seen on the chopping board. 

“Heok……!” 

Brock had no choice but to let out a gasp in surprise. 

***

Len entrusted the dinner menu to Brock as he went to the nearest grass field where the subjugation force was staying at. 

‘Rovel Grass.’ 

It was a delicacy that one could only taste in Athenae. It has the same taste as wormwood in real life. 

Fresh and naturally grown rovel grass would taste infinitely better compared to artificially grown rovel grasses. That was why he needed to work a lot. 

After quite some time, Len decided to go back to the kitchen carriage. On his way back he was able to meet with the leader of the subjugation force, Vald. 

“Oh, Len. You received a new recruit this time, huh? The soldiers were very fond of him or so I’ve heard?” 

“Yeah, I took one in.” 

“What made you accept him? You’re not very fond of foreigners.” 

“He works very hard. And……” 

He shook his head as his words turned into a mumble. 

“It’s just because he was working much harder than what I thought.” 

“Is that so? Hmm, that’s quite a relief.” 

Somehow, the conversation did not sound like it was a conversation between a squad leader and a chef nor a conversation between a higher ranked knight and a lower ranked knight.

However, the flow of the conversation seemed very natural. 

The reason was… 

It was because Len used to be an imperial chef. He was also the main chef in the palace. However, he was framed with false charges and was demoted in the subjugation force. 

“Ah, what’s the menu for dinner today?” 

“Tonkatsu.” 

“Oh, my mouth is already watering just thinking about your tonkatsu.” 

“Huhu, look forward to it.” 

As he finished their talk, Len turned around and continued on his way towards the kitchen. He gulped as he thought about what he mumbled earlier. 

‘Because he resembled me quite a bit.’ 

The foreigner named Minhyuk resembled him. He felt it when he was cooking but he was still not quite sure. He was the same with the him of the past. 

‘Did he finish at least half of it?’ 

Len entered the carriage with that thought in mind. 

“How’s the tonkatsu coming along?” 

“Yes, it’s almost done. Look at that squad leader. Look at that guy over there.” 

“Huh?” 

Ta— tataktaktaktaktaktak! 

It was the rhythmic sound of the knife hitting the chopping board. 

When he heard the sound of the knife, Len thought that it was Brock chopping. However, Brock was frying tonkatsu on the frying pan while the one chopping over there was the user named Minhyuk.

Len was astonished to see him. 

‘It sounded ne, neat……!’

And the intervals between the chopped onions were regular. 

And he was fast. 

He was shocked. 

“H, how……?” 

He then saw Minhyuk turning around. 

***

Minhyuk tilted his head in a bow toward the shocked Len. 

At that moment… 

[You have achieved 100% proficiency in your Knife Skill.] 

[You have gained 10 DEX.] 

[You have received the effect The Greatness of the Food Fighter.] 

[Beginner, Intermediate, Superior, Expert, Master: You have mastered the skills of a Craftsman.] 

[You have learned the Food God’s Cooking Skills.] 

[You have learned the skill God’s Cooking Acquisition.] 

[You have learned the skill Ingredient Tracking.] 

[You have learned Trance.] 

“……Huh?”

Minhyuk was very surprised. There was suddenly a list of skills that he had learned popping out in front of him. 

Did I acquire the Food God’s Cooking Skill because I mastered everything from beginner until master? 

‘……The Greatness of a Food Fighter?’ 

There was an additional Greatness of a Food Fighter under his Food Fighter skill window. It was the one where there was a lot of ‘?’ on it. 

‘Hoooo…’ 

Minhyuk was in awe with this unexpected turn of events. 

He wanted to check his newly acquired cooking skills and titles. 

***

Footnotes 

[1] 육도 : six degrees. Apparently, kitchen knives have edge angles where they are sharpened. There are 2 types of angle for knives and the edge angle is the angle in one side. I’m not sure about the six degree angle author-nim is saying but saw somewhere that it could only go up until 10 degrees. It seemed that the higher the edge angle the blunter the knife (blunt in a way that it would be thick but it could crack a bone). 

TL’s corner!!! 

I tried doing the knife thing… It’s difficult to practice but it’s a bit easier to slice and chop. Kek.