Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

Once the assimilation was over, Valan let out a light glow. When the light died down completely, the previous black appearance of Valan had already completely changed. 

“Ellie’s kitchen knife is an equip artifact. In that state, it can change to a kitchen knife, a black smith’s hammer or a fishing rod. And with its automatic cleaning, you can always keep it clean.” 

The altered Valan had a different appearance. Its grip had now turned red and had the phoenix engraved on it. 

Minhyuk checked the information right away. 

(Ellie’s Sword) 

Class: Epic

Restrictions: Primary Level has no limits, the secondary level requires user to be at Lv120

Durability: ∞/∞

Attack Power: 211 + 50

Special Abilities: STR+4, AGI+3

Primary Level’s Special Abilities:

— DEX acquisition x4

— +50 DEX

— Can be equipped with a sword. 

— Can automatically clean itself. 

— Can change to any type of cooking tools. 

Secondary Level’s Special Abilities:

— Sealed

— Sealed

— Sealed

Description: This was an artifact that the Empress bestowed upon Len, the best chef in Eivelis Empire. 

It was equipped just like what he said. By equipping Ellie’s Kitchen Knife with Valan, the sword has acquired an additional attacking power of +50. It was also considered to be a great artifact since you would also get a +40 on DEX just by using it. 

Minhyuk smiled happily at the artifact. 

“Thank you, teacher!” 

“But do you know who the sword’s Ellie is?” 

Of course Minhyuk already checked it. 

Ellie was the Empress of the Eivelis Empire and this item was something she bestowed upon Len. 

“Yes, but I think that there’s more to that teacher. I can’t believe that the Empress would just give you a sword.” 

Len grinned at him. 

“She used to be my lover.” 

His grin slowly turned bitter. 

“I was a royal chef in the past, you know.” 

“Y, you’re a big shot.” 

“Ellie loved my cooking. She was having a very hard time just thinking about stepping up and sitting on the throne at her very young age. But every time she ate my food, she said that she would always get her strength back.” 

Minhyuk was starting to see where this was headed to. 

“But in the end, a chef like me and someone like her can’t be together. Her vassals framed me and accused me of false charges. As a result, I was driven out of the palace. And the day before I left the palace…” 

Minhyuk could tell from his expression that he was reminiscing the past. 

“We both made a promise to each other.” 

Minhyuk perked his ears up and listened attentively. 

“Her father, His Majesty Ellen, was called as the King of the Swords. Since she was a genius, I promised that I would treat her to a very delicious meal once she inherits that name.” 

“Ooooooh…! You’re really cool!” 

Perhaps, Len did that so she could do what she wanted to do and not grieve over him leaving her.

“A long time has passed since then, I heard that she has already surpassed the former Emperor, His Majesty Ellen.” 

“So you’re going to the palace now?” 

“No.” 

Minhyuk looked at him strangely when he heard his definite answer. 

“Her vassals would definitely not let me enter the palace.” 

Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding. 

It was possible. Nowadays, the Empress was said to have reached her peak so her vassals would definitely not want to see her playing along with her lover. 

“That’s why I want to ask you for a favor, boy.” 

“A favor?” 

“Yeah. Cook for the Empress on my behalf.” 

[Linked Quest: Meet Ellie.] 

Rank: B rank

Restrictions: You should get Len’s approval. 

Rewards: 15,000 EXP

Penalty for Failure: None

Description: You have received Len’s approval. He is requesting you to cook for the Empress on his behalf. 

“I understand.” 

“Thanks.” 

Len smiled lightly. 

Minhyuk might have accepted the quest but it was still not clear if he would proceed on it. After all, he was someone who was playing the game for the food.

Furthermore, the Empress was not someone who Minhyuk could meet just because he wanted to meet her. And he couldn’t just go to the palace and shout ‘I’m Len’s disciple!’. There was a high possibility that he would get kicked out even before he could step foot inside. It wasn’t that easy to make a way to meet the Empress.

Of course, the reward was tempting but wasn’t it better for him to just eat than getting the reward? 

“Boy, are you going to use the return stone now?” 

“No.” 

Once the subjugation itself was over, most of the users would choose to use the return stone to go back to the village. Minhyuk was now the only user left accompanying them on their return home.

“If I hunt the monsters from around here then I would be able to get an extra Sun’s Wheat right?” 

Minhyuk received an additional notification after the end of the subjugation. It said that the Sun’s Wheat would drop if he hunted monsters like goblins around the area. 

All the other users paid no attention to it and just directly used the return stone to leave the camp. 

“That’s right.” 

“I was thinking of killing some of them.” 

“Alone?” 

“Yes.” 

“But, boy……” 

He has already seen Minhyuk’s skills so he should probably not be that concerned. 

Minhyuk bowed his head towards him again. 

“Thank you for everything!”

Len smiled at him. 

“How about having another mukbang battle?” 

“Huhuhuhu. I won’t go easy on you.” 

“You should keep in mind that I also won’t go easy on you.” 

Minhyuk soon left the kitchen carriage

***

15 minutes later. 

Twilight Chef Black was finally able to catch up and find the returning subjugation force. He was riding his own carriage when he found the troops. 

‘2 billion should be enough, he’s probably waiting for me in tenterhooks.’ 

Black chuckled darkly. 

After dealing with that he would then finish Len’s linked quest that he received earlier. 

Twilight Chef Black was also able to receive a hint while he progressed with the linked quest.

He would be able to receive a treasure granted by the Empress. In addition, once the quest progressed further, he would be able to learn Ellie’s Epic Level Swordsmanship, the swordsmanship of the person hailed as the Sword Emperor. 

As a chef that was mocked for being a weak class if he acquired an epic-ranked skill then his strength would definitely have an enormous leap. 

Black’s wagon finally stopped. 

“Neighhh!” 

The horse gave a low cry. 

“I heard that there is a talented chef in your military kitchen.” 

When he heard his words, Mabal suddenly went rigid and on alert. He was also very fond of Minhyuk since his favorability has reached the extreme. 

“What’s your business with him?” 

“Ah, I have a proposal to him since he is very skilled and excellent.” 

Ah, so that was his purpose.

But it is a shame, he left alone to go back to the Bordy Plains earlier. 

“He’s gone.” 

“Eh? What do you mean?” 

“The subjugation is already over.” 

“N, no. This can’t be true?” 

Black had a weird expression on his face. He had thought that he would be waiting for him. 

Hey, I thought that you have given me a good hint before? 

The hint that he was talking about was him sending out free buffed dishes to the users. He thought that it was a hint given out by that user. Why? Because in that way, the information about himself would spread quickly and others would find him easily. 

Did he really use his brains? 

“What are you so surprised about? Now that the subjugation is over then all of the foreigners should go back.” 

“T, this can’t be……!” 

Black bit his lips as he thought about things. Once he had thought it through, he started to calm himself down. 

‘Hoo, no. I should go here anyway. For that epic artifact.’ 

Then he grinned. 

“Where are the kitchen carriages?” 

“Over there.” 

Mabal pointed towards the kitchen carriages, and as if on cue, Len walked out of the carriage. He was smiling broadly as he munched on a bread, just like Minhyuk. 

“Are you Len?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I’m Twilight Chef Black.” 

“I see.” 

“……Well, don’t you have anything to say to me right now?”

“But there’s none? Chew, chew.” 

Len calmly answered him while he continued to munch on his bread. 

“T, the quest told me to come here!” 

“Ah, that. Sorry but my disciple has already taken it.” 

“What are you saying, that’s impossible!” 

“Sorry about that, but what can you do if my disciple has already taken it?” 

Len patted him on the shoulder. Black’s body trembled. 

“T, then the epic artifact……?” 

“None.” 

“Is there anything else?” 

“Anything else…… Sorry but I don’t have anything else to give you. You should be a bit hungry, so take this.” 

It was bread. 

“You’ve worked hard.” 

“……” 

Black’s hands shook as he looked at it.

It was a 2-month long quest. An epic artifact and in addition, there was a chance that I would be able to learn the Empress’ swordsmanship. And you’re just giving me this bread?! 

Plop! 

The bread fell down to the ground. Black strode towards it and trampled it under his foot. 

Len’s eyes narrowed as he watched him. 

“I guess I gave it as a gift to the correct owner. I don’t think I will ever regret that decision.” 

“Are you telling me now that the bastard from before was better than me?!” 

His anger boiled over when he heard Len compare him to that mysterious chef. 

I can’t believe that anyone is better than me! 

“Is that it? Yeah, my disciple is better than someone who does not know how precious food is. My disciple even cherishes this hard bread compared to you. What a Twilight Chef you are!” 

Len clicked his tongue in annoyance. Black was filled with frustration. 

‘I, Impossible!” 

He was too angry to realize it. 

Len was an excellent chef and another piece of pie might fall for him. 

“It was my fault. I was overwhelmed with anger. Please give me a quest.” 

“Get out!” 

Black became dispirited. 

At that moment… 

“Len. Is it true that our new recruit left already?” 

“He just left.” 

“No! I promised(?) to marry my beautiful daughter to him!” 

“No! I need to get the quest! Give me the quest, not the bread!” 

Both of their eyes met. Venetto suddenly had a cheerful expression on his face. 

“Boy, you’re very handsome. Would you like me to introduce you to my beautiful daughter?” 

‘W, what the hell is this again?!’ 

Then, Venetto showed him the picture that he showed to Minhyuk. 

“Ugh, aaaaaaaaack. Damn it!” 

Black clasped his head and covered his eyes as he let out a shriek. 

***

Minhyuk had just disconnected from the game. He immediately sat down and gulped down a variety of nutritional supplements while he ate his cherry tomatoes. 

“Huwaa… Why aren’t there any nutritional supplements that tastes like meat?” 

Even in the wild, plump and chubby animals will run around so how can there be no meat-flavored nutritional supplements?! 

After those thoughts passed through his mind, Minhyuk started to calm himself down. He decided to start and organize his thoughts and itinerary. 

‘I should first focus on getting more Sun’s Wheat until the subjugation force returns to the village.’ 

Mabal specifically told Minhyuk that he would receive thrice the amount of Sun’s Wheat as his reward. But at the rate of his consumption, even if he had thrice the amount of the regular rewards, he would still be able to finish it quickly. 

And Minhyuk’s job class still has that % beside it. It was already approaching 90%. 

‘Unlocking each and every one of those things is surprisingly interesting.’ 

Aside from eating, such a system was quite pleasant to have too. 

Minhyuk accessed Athenae’s official website and browsed through its contents. He also searched for ‘Ellie’. He still wasn’t sure if he was going to do it but he wanted to prepare, just in case he had a chance. 

‘Well, what if something delicious comes out? Ha……’ 

There were quite a lot of articles related to the search term that he used. 

[Wow. Today I went to the Emperor’s City and I just saw Empress Ellie’s…  She’s really pretty… My legs almost turned into jelly…

kdkcml5: Proposal g, g [1]! He who has the courage gets the beauty! 

BeautyLovesApples: Oh, a virtual marriage transcends above interracial marriage.] 

He first saw plenty of praise about her beauty.

In the next article… 

[Nims. I went to see the Empress since I wanted to go and learn the Empress’ swordsmanship. She was like the devil of the sword. I went to her and said: Please accept me as a pupil! But she locked me up in the dungeon ㅠㅠ waaaaah. I am sentenced to 10 years in prison…… Someone save me…… ㅠㅠ

hjbja52: LOL [2] hahaha. Delete character [3] hahaha. 

WatchOut: You should go and broadcast live on Paprika. It’s going to be fun! Hahaha

nbhyqwm7: Ah, nims. I’m being serious here ㅠㅠ Can anyone please save me ㅠㅠ?] 

***

Footnotes 

[1] ㄱㄱ! An abbreviated version of 가, 가! Or go, go! 

[2] 현웃 abbreviated version of 현실에서 웃음 or laughing in reality. Slang word which has the same meaning as LOL. 

[3] 캐삭 각 idk abt the 각 part but 캐삭 I think it was an abbreviation for character and sack so literally sacking your character or deleting your character in game. It makes sense since the character of the user who was asking for help was locked in prison and for 10 yrs too. 

TL’s corner!!! 

Well, well. Serves Kim Seokhyun right. He wanted to trample on Minhyuk and hide his talents so that’s what you get. hahahaha. Bleeeeh! 😛 However, it makes you wonder if he never connected the dots that it was Minhyuk that got the artifact?

PR’s corner!

The Twilight Chef Black truly has a black heart. I’d feel sorry for him, but he trampled on food. 10 years in the prison for him!

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