Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks 

PR: MattForgenti

19 Eating to Acquire Skills

‘What the hell is this…?’ 

He had received a hint earlier that if he caught the sweet potato warrior then he would receive something delicious but he couldn’t help but think when he saw the light. 

‘A monster can glow with this light?’ 

There might be a reason for this. 

Come to think of it, I have recently filled the % beside my Food Fighter class to 100%. 

But he hadn’t heard any notifications whatsoever. 

“I did not see any light when I killed the orcs, the goblins and even the sweet potato men…?” 

He had only seen this black light on the sweet potato warrior. 

***

Team Leader Park murmured… 

“Because that’s a Named Monster.” 

Lee Minhwa nodded her head in agreement. 

The two of them were monitoring User Minhyuk’s movements. 

He had already filled up 100% and was ready for a 2nd job class. Before that, it was not unusual to not see any black light on monsters especially these rare named monsters. 

“The 1st job class of the Food Fighter focuses on the usual and common food.” 

Then, what does the 2nd job class focus on? 

“I wonder if User Minhyuk is willing to eat monsters.” 

“But he’s definitely on the luckier side. If he did not go to the hidden dungeon then he might have had to eat a common monster first.” 

“Yeah. That’s the hardest part.” 

No matter how much User Minhyuk loves to eat, can he even eat the monster directly without any hesitations at all? 

That was the hard part. But, User Minhyuk was very blessed to have met the appropriate monster the first time. 

“Anyway, a monster is a monster. Who would like to eat monsters without any sense of rejection at all?” 

“However he needs to eat that monster to satisfy all of the conditions for the 2nd job class. If he wasn’t able to eat a monster in 2 weeks then he will not be able to change to his 2nd job class and will continue to remain in his 1st job class, right?” 

“Yeah. User Minhyuk will only be able to increase his stats and be a good chef with his God Class if he wasn’t able to do that.” 

But will he eat monsters? 

‘He’ll also be able to acquire more special abilities.’ 

***

Minhyuk thought that he should first hunt the sweet potato warrior. Then he would probably get answers after that. 

“Gumaaa…!” 

The sweet potato warrior first went on the offensive. 

[Bardy Swordsmanship] 

[All 5 basic stats have a +12 increase for 6 minutes.]

He could feel the strength filling up his body. 

Then, the sweet potato warrior thrusted its spear towards him. 

Clang! 

Minhyuk easily parried the sweet potato warrior’s strike and scattered the force behind it. 

At that moment… 

Crackle, swoosh! 

The Salamander’s Double Ring’s effect ignited the body of the sweet potato warrior. 

[Salamander’s Blaze] 

[The attack will inflict continuous damage to the enemy.]

Then… 

Sniff, sniff, sniff—

Minhyuk’s nose moved. 

This smell, this aroma. 

It was a very familiar smell. 

“T, this…!” 

His eyes widened in disbelief. 

“Roasted sweet potato!” 

“Gumaaaaaaa?!” 

The sweet potato warrior struggled to put out the fire on its body while Minhyuk’s appetite suddenly soared. 

He licked his lips in anticipation. 

“Roasted sweet potato…… Delicious……” 

Roasted sweet potato tastes differently compared to boiled sweet potato. 

When you purchased a roasted sweet potato on the street, you could see the slightly burnt skin and the steam rising off of it. And once you took a bite off of it, you would always say… 

“Hot, hot, hot, hot!”

But no matter what, you would only continue to roll it in your mouth to cool it down. No one would be willing to waste the sweet taste of the sweet potato that spreads out in your mouth. It was the best. 

“Gumaaaa!” 

He gulped down his saliva when he saw the sweet potato warrior burning. 

‘De, devil…?’ 

Minhyuk’s throat moved as he gulped once more. His tongue wetted his lips. 

“You look very yummy right now, you know?” 

Screech! 

The sweet potato warrior stepped back as it continued to try to put out the fire. 

“Don’t put out the fire, or you’ll taste bad!” 

“Gu, gumaguma……” 

Fear engulfed the sweet potato warrior when it heard Minhyuk’s words. 

‘Wait a minute…!’ 

A thought suddenly passed through Minhyuk’s head… 

‘The black light might mean that it’s a crucial ingredient that I can eat……’ 

So what does it mean? 

‘It’s for me to eat. Oh yeah!’ 

Minhyuk saw that the sweet potato warrior was finally able to extinguish the fire on its body.

Then he saw it place its hands in the ground. Its hands quickly went through. It was as if the ground was as soft as a tofu and a chopstick poked through it. It then pulled out a sweet potato out of the ground. 

The sweet potato warrior quickly placed the sweet potato in its mouth. It hurriedly chewed on it. 

Then, a surprising thing suddenly happened. 

[The Sweet Potato Warrior’s HP has recovered.] 

Its HP recovered when it ate? 

It was a bit novel. However, Minhyuk quickly realized what he had to do. 

He narrowed the distance between him and the monster in just one breath. Then, he proceeded to attack the sweet potato warrior. The sweet potato warrior ended up as a cold dead body that collapsed on the ground. 

At that moment… 

Something surprising dropped from the sweet potato warrior. 

It was a golden sweet potato surrounded by a golden light.

[You have acquired a Golden Sweet Potato.] 

“Ooooooh! I got a good item, a golden sweet potato.” 

Minhyuk hurriedly picked it up and checked the information. 

(Golden Sweet Potato) 

Ingredient Rank: C

Special Abilities: — +20 increase in STM

Description: A more delicious golden sweet potato that can only be obtained by hunting sweet potato warriors. You won’t know which of the two of you will eat the other. 

“Wooow! It’s a more delicious sweet potato!” 

Minhyuk was very happy to read that. 

Aside from it being much more delicious than other sweet potatoes, it could also boost the STM by 20.

What’s more, the golden sweet potato was bigger than Minhyuk’s fist! 

Minhyuk hurriedly placed it on his bosom. 

But first, there’s still a roasted sweet potato in front of me! 

But then, he hesitated. 

“Hey, it’s a monster though…?” 

It was a monster. 

It was the sweet potato warrior that was just attacking him earlier too! 

“Yeah, it’s 0kcal if it’s delicious!” 

Minhyuk was still very simple. 

He moved urgently as he took out a lot of foil from his inventory. Then he started to wrap the sweet potato warrior in layers of layers of foil. It was too big that he had to use a few rolls of foil for it to be covered. 

Then, he quickly hurried to Bran’s house. 

“Bran-nim! Bran-nim!” 

His voice sounded like it was very urgent. 

“What’s the matter?” 

“Do you have any firewood?” 

“Firewood?” 

“Yes, can you please lend me some firewood?” 

“It’s in the back?” 

Fwooooosh! 

Minhyuk was as fast as the wind. He even used the magic spell Haste. 

He stopped in front of Bran with his arm full of firewood. 

He looked like a puppy that needed to poop, he was a wreck of nerves but he still wanted to express his gratitude. 

“Thank you for your help!” 

“Boy, you look really happy?” 

“Yeeees! I’m very very happy!” 

And at the same time, he wanted to express how happy he was. 

“Bran-nim, what do you call the sweet potato who joined the army?” 

“……?” 

“A roasted sweet potato!! Huwooo!” 

He watched Minhyuk hurrying off in the distance. His finger went to his head as he twirled it over and over again. 

“Roasted sweet potato, huh. That guy is crazy…” 

But soon after… 

“A sweet potato in the army… roasted sweet potato? Pfft!” 

He laughed heartily at the joke. 

***

Tap, tap, tap—

Minhyuk looked very excited as he watched over the roasted sweet potato(?) surrounded by the firewood. 

When he poked it with Ellie’s sword, the sword went through easily. 

Minhyuk cut off a portion of the roasted sweet potato. Then, steam rose up with a woooosh— as he peeled off the foil. 

[Please choose one from Buff Ability and True Worth of Food.] 

“True Worth of Food.” 

[The Sweet Potato Warrior is selected as the main ingredient.] 

“Hot, hot, hot, hot!” 

Minhyuk transferred the sweet potato from his right hand to his left and vice versa until the sweet potato cooled down a bit. Then he moved to take a big bite off of it. 

“Hooo…” 

The sweet potato in his mouth gave off plenty of steam. 

“Heoop.”

He rolled the sweet potato around his mouth as he slowly savored its taste. 

A sweet taste slowly spread in his mouth. 

“D, delicious…!” 

Minhyuk was very surprised. Its flavor was much sweeter compared to regular sweet potatoes. It was an extremely delicious variant of sweet potato.

Its taste is truly astounding! 

He chewed the delicious sweet potato well and finally gulped it down. 

“Chew, chew!” 

Minhyuk quickly devoured the roast sweet potato. 

Then, he cut the remaining giant sweet potato into pieces and wrapped them in foil. The wrapped sweet potatoes were then placed in the fire again. 

He only did it because it was truly big and it might not get cooked well if he roasted it in one go. 

There was even a cool dongchimi with a sheet of thin ice on it placed in front of him.

Before he ate pork, he prepared various kinds of kimchi to serve as his side dishes. In addition, he set the temperature in the food storage inventory to a colder temperature so it would be easy for a thin sheet of ice to form on top of it. 

“Gulp, gulp, gulp.” 

When he gulped down the dongchimi, his eyes clattered in the coolness. However, it effectively pressed down the dryness of the sweet potato from earlier. 

The cool and refreshing taste of dongchimi is delicious! 

He might have not noticed but his smiling face was smeared with soot. Others would probably have laughed at him with a ‘pfft‘ if they saw his appearance while he ate his roasted sweet potatoes. 

When he finally finished eating all of his roasted sweet potatoes… 

[True Worth of Food.] 

[You can acquire the Sweet Potato Warrior’s Skill: Absorption Transition.] 

[Would you like to acquire it?] 

Minhyuk looked surprised. 

I could acquire skills in this way? 

“Acquire.” 

He first decided to give it a try. 

[Acquisition rate 11%…… 22%…… 36%…… 68%…… 88%…… 100%.] 

[You have successfully acquired Absorption Transition.]

[Your eccentric eyes have opened.] 

[Your job will be changed to Eccentric Food Fighter.] 

[The skill for Eccentric Food Fighter has been created.] 

[The Food Fighter’s Legacy Quest has been created.] 

Minhyuk pondered about it as he heard the notifications. 

Did I really get skills just by eating? 

That was considered to be an extremely surprising story. 

Was it really possible to acquire skills just by eating something? 

Then, Minhyuk thought… 

‘Ah, so…!’ 

This was probably the reason why he couldn’t acquire skills from the skill book.

And at that moment, he finally understood. Unlike the others, he could acquire and learn his skills by eating. 

Minhyuk continued to ponder deeply about this matter. 

‘The sweet potato warrior probably had a skill because it was a special mob.’ 

And these special mobs usually appeared among boss monsters or named monsters. 

He first checked his skill window. 

(Absorption Transition) 

Active Skill 

Level: None

Mana Required: 200

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Effects: — You can recover 30~40% HP whenever you eat something.

“……I think that this is something extremely incredible?” 

Even Minhyuk who would only be moved if it was about food opened his mouth in surprise when he read the effects of the skill. 

Will I recover 30~40% HP as soon as I eat? 

As far as he knows, the healing and recovering types of abilities were skills that were considered to be extremely expensive. 

Minhyuk quickly sent a whisper to General. 

[Minhyuk: Hyung, hyung, are you busy?] 

[General: no, no. I’m in the guild get-together. Why?] 

[Minhyuk: I just wanted to ask you something.]

[General: What is it?] 

[Minhyuk: It’s nothing special, I just received a recovery skill.] 

[General: Oh, a recovery skill? But that’s a good thing? Recovery Skill Books are much more expensive than normal skill books since they don’t drop. What’s the recovery rate? 10%? Or 15%?]

“……” 

Minhyuk went speechless for a moment. Just by looking at what Changwook said, he could now see how fraudulent his skills were. 

“Well, potions are really expensive……” 

Then Minhyuk continued to send his whispers. 

[Minhyuk: It’s 30~40%.] 

[General:……You’re not just trying to make me call you hyung again, right?] 

[Minhyuk: But it’s true, and I have never lied to you before?] 

[General: OMG… 30~40%? What’s the skills rank? And what’s the cooldown?] 

[Minhyuk: There’s no rank and the cooldown is 20 minutes.] 

Their whisper window was silent for a moment. 

Minhyuk could even see an image in his head. General probably had a blank expression on his face. 

A whisper finally came out. 

[General: This is an amazing case…] 

***

Footnotes 

[Sweet Potato Joke] Army in KR is 군 so a sweet potato who joined the army is a 군고구마 (roasted sweet potato. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

TL’s corner!!! 

Ahhh, he finally realized how fraudulent his skills were. Lmao. Yes boy, your skills are extremely fraudulent and perfect for you. 

PR’s corner!

He may have realized he has broken skills, but he’s still mainly concerned whether they’ll get him more food in the end. Which is just adorable. Never change, Minhyuk.

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