Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

"Carbonated water?"

Minhyuk almost stood up in shock.

"Yes. It\'s sweet, carbonated water."

"Woooooow!"

In addition, if he went there, he would be able to meet with a legendary chef.

How delicious his cooking must be!

"Since the two of you are here together, why don\'t the two of you bring me some pure extract together?"

[Hidden Quest: Meet with the Legendary Chef and get the Pure Extract!]

Rank: S

Restriction: Meet with Boroto

Rewards: Boroto\'s Buffed Dish

Penalty for Failure: Boroto\'s Favorability will decrease

Description: The Northern Continent has not yet been explored. However, Boroto has been to that place before. He even knew the whereabouts of the Legendary Chef that he met in the Valkyrie Kingdom.

Genie accepted the quest after she heard and read the same quest notifications as Minhyuk.

[You have acquired a map that will lead you to Valkyrie Kingdom.]

\'This has led us with an unexpected companion, but we\'ll just have to wait and see.\'

As she was thinking about this, Genie went out with Minhyuk.

"The croquette was really delicious. I\'ll see you later!"

"Huuh? Wait? Where are you going?"

Genie was flustered. Minhyuk, who just said goodbye, was going away without looking back at her!

"I\'m going to get the Pure Extract."

"Y, you should come with me."

"......Why?"

Minhyuk looked at her with confusion.

"B, because we got the quest together."

"Eyyy. Then there will be another mouth."

"......?"

"See you later!"

Minhyuk turned around again and started to walk away. Genie became nervous.

Shit, what am I supposed to do? Do I really have to introduce myself?

Minhyuk was getting farther and farther away. Then, she spoke with instinct.

"I\'ll buy you something delicious!"

Step, step, step, step!

"Let\'s go! I\'ll make the journey comfortable and easy for Nim!"

In the past, whenever she said this, Minhyuk would always carry her bag for her. This was how the two of them came to accompany each other in a quest.

"Ah. I still have to stop by the village."

"The village?"

Genie looked at Minhyuk in confusion.

"Because I really have a lot of miscellaneous items."

***

Lute was in the central plaza of Raven Village. He was shouting loudly among the other people selling and buying wares.

"I\'m buying items! I don\'t care how much, I\'ll buy whatever you have! I\'ll buy it from a higher price from wherever you\'re selling them! At 1.5 times higher than the normal price!"

His reason for buying miscellaneous items was because the list of items that he would see when he bought them would indicate how strong a user was. Depending on the artifacts or other drop items, one could infer what kind of monsters and hunting ground the user went to. There were quite a lot of high leveled hunting grounds in the vicinity of Raven Village. So he was bound to find some strong users. His plan was to identify those strong users through their items and recruit them as foreigners who would escort him and King Varen. This was why he was buying items.

Then, a man and a woman approached him.

\'Another Frying Pan cosplayer? I\'m so sick of it, so sick!\'

Then, Lute saw the woman standing next to him and unconsciously gave a \'Heh…….\' laugh. It was because the woman was a great beauty.

"Nim-ah. I have some miscellaneous items that I want to sell. Are you really going to buy all of them at a higher price?"

"Yes. I\'ll buy it at a price 1.5 times higher than in other places~"

"But there\'s quite a lot……"

"It\'s alright. I have a lot of money~ haha!"

Lute smiled greasily as he furtively cast a glance at the woman beside the man. But the woman did not even cast him a sidelong glance. Lute decided to just stick to his task and get it done.

"But it\'s really a lot!"

"......It\'s fine. A merchant would not run out of money when they\'re buying things. Haha!"

Lute looked at the man up and down. He was wearing a frying pan on his back, a horned helmet and a ragged-looking armor! However, his sword looked pretty good.

\'Hmm. Did he buy it with cash?\'

Lute reached his hands out and shook his hands with the man. Whenever users or NPCs shook hands, they would be able to initiate a trade.

Once the trading window opened, the man quickly clicked away.

[The Trading Window is full.]

There were 16 transactions in total. And as Lute looked through all 16 of these transactions his eyes grew wider and wider.

\'W, what?! The Twin-headed Ogre\'s Gauntlet? The Orc Tribe Leader\'s Greatsword? Keok?! More than five Twin-headed Ogre\'s blood?!\'

Lute was shocked stiff. He had no choice but to be shocked with how formidable these items were. Then, his eyes suddenly stopped on one item.

\'The Phoenix Lord\'s feather?\'

Phoenix Lord! It was a Legendary monster that had not been found yet! Its level was estimated to be somewhere between Lv450~500 and is comparable to the current number 1 in the rankings.

And you\'re telling me that he has its artifact material?!

\'This person… He\'s high leveled!\'

Lute\'s excitement came to him in a rush. He quickly priced it to finish the transaction.

\'There are two Orc Tribe Leader\'s Greatsword…… One is priced at 50 million gold…… the Phoenix Lord\'s feather is priced at 80 billion gold and……\'

Lute, who just finished calculating, blinked his eyes blankly.

"Th, the total is 30.7 billion gold."

"......Yes?"

The woman standing next to the man reacted to his words.

"H, how much did you say?"

"30.7 billion gold. Ah, I said that it\'s 1.5 times higher than others so I\'ll have to give you more."

"......?"

The woman looked at the man beside him like she couldn\'t understand what was happening. This was exactly what Lute was feeling. Then, he remembered something.

"Ahhh. I didn\'t put a price on the Twin-headed Ogre\'s Gauntlet. Because it\'s an epic item……"

"......"

"So it\'s almost at 80 billion gold?"

"Oh, that\'s a lot. But I still have at least 1 to 2 times more than that."

Lute\'s eyes widened further.

"Wh, what did you say?"

"I have at least 1 to 2 times more than that."

Lute thought…

It\'s confirmed! This man can help me lead my quest to success!

"I\'m sorry, but can you please excuse me for a moment?"

Lute pulled the sword out of his waist. This was the sword that Varen lent to him, the Sun\'s Sword. Even if there was a distance of 1m between them, he would be able to check their reputation. The brighter the light that would shine out from the sword, the higher the reputation the user had.

"......Heok?!"

Lute was once again shocked stiff.

When he pointed the sword at the man, the sword shone tremendously. Then, he looked sideways and pointed the sword at the woman standing beside the man.

It\'s weaker than the light from the man but it\'s definitely a strong light!

Genie finally noticed…

\'Isn\'t that a sword that a King or an Emperor has? The sword that can determine the reputation of others? D, don\'t tell me that Minhyuk has an extremely high reputation right now?\'

It was another shock!

Then, Lute immediately prostrated on the ground.

"P, please help me!"

The two people looked at him curiously as Lute explained their situation like a rattling gun.

Genie thought…

\'Wow, I must take this! It\'s the chance to build a relationship and increase my favorability with the King of a new continent!\'

As he finished explaining, Lute looked at the man\'s expression.

\'W, what\'s this? Why is he so indifferent?!\'

Minhyuk yawned widely after listening.

"Speaking of kings, I want to eat king dumplings……"

"......"

"......"

"A, anyway please help us! If you help us then I\'ll tell the king to buy your items at 1.5, no, at 2 times the price!"

"Hmmm……"

Minhyuk rubbed his chin, as his expression turned worried. Genie did not know what he was worried about but she whispered something in Lute\'s ear.

"Eh? If I say that…… Then he\'ll be extremely motivated? Hmm……"

Lute was a bit worried, something was weird with this party but he still obediently hinted at the man.

"I\'ll buy you something delicious on the way."

Swooosh!

"How dare they threaten the king, I\'ll protect you with this knife……! Let\'s go!"

This was how Minhyuk and Genie joined their party.

"I really want to eat a giant gummy worm."

Lute firmly believed that this party was both strange and weird.

\'But they are strong!\'

***

Varen sat helplessly on a bed in one of the rooms in an inn.

“Lute… I hope he has good intentions.”

They desperately needed the aid and strength of a strong foreigner right now. Of course, Varen was also willing to give out generous compensation for the foreigner that would help them safely arrive at their destination from this place.

However, it seemed like it would still be tough. The foreigners who were pursuing them earlier looked like they were quite strong.

‘Damn it!’

The king himself did not know why his situation had become like this.

As he was thinking about his situation, Varen suddenly heard a loud growl.

“I’m hungry.”

Being a king did not mean that he wouldn’t get hungry. He ran nonstop just to survive it was only natural that he would feel hungry.

‘I can’t just go downstairs and eat.’

Their pursuers would be able to find them once he did that so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and bear with it as he waited for Lute.

Then…

Varen heard a light knock on the door of his room. Varen’s lips curled in a slight smile.

Lute finally arrived with the foreigners!

Once he came in, he would definitely ask him to go downstairs and bring him something to eat. The door soon opened.

“Your Highness. I have brought the foreigners.”

“I see.”

Varen nodded his head.

The first person to come inside was a woman. Just when the woman was about to greet him, a creature as small as a fist suddenly barged in.

“Huh?”

He looked at it strangely as he asked in a solemn voice.

“What kind of a pig is this?”

“I’m the pig named Minhyuk…… no, I’m a foreigner.”

“I asked about the pig so why did you answer, boy?”

Varen looked at the strange pair of man and woman.

“I used to be called a pig so I couldn’t stop my……”

He was left speechless as he looked at them. It was quite strange to see a foreign man with such a condition that looked like he was still at zero. Even the woman who came in with him looked shabby. The man was even wearing a frying pan on his back. Varen thought that something might go wrong but he did not think that a lot of things had gone wrong.

Then, he asked the man.

“Boy, what’s your job class?”

“I’m a chef.”

“......No. Why did you bring a chef here?”

When he heard his words, he couldn’t help but jump up to defend himself.

“I came here because he told me that he will buy me delicious food. Your Highness……!”

“......”

For a moment, Varen wanted to sock Lute in the gut, but Lute’s expression was really flustered. It was as if he did not expect it.

“Ar, are you really a chef?”

“But of course.”

“......”

Lute was left speechless.

‘Wh, what the hell. I thought he was a big shot character because of the sword on his waist…… D, don’t tell me that he’s just skilled as a chef? He got a high reputation just by cooking?’

As he was thinking about that, he saw Varen beckoning him towards where he was.

“What in the world is going on, Lute!”

He turned his head and looked at the three of them standing by the door.

“There are hundreds of soldiers, knights and monsters. Are you telling me that he’s going to break through all of them and lead me to where Empress Ellie was? Is the fate of the Valkyrie Kingdom dependent on them?!”

“Y, yes……?”

Varen supported his forehead in disbelief. He felt like he wanted to kill himself on the spot. A strange chef, an unidentified baby pig and an unknown woman with a pretty face.

‘That woman isn’t even in her right mind!’

It wasn’t even natural for someone to walk with such a strange man. She was definitely crazy!

‘This is how the 300-year-old history of the Valkyrie Kingdom falls apart!’

Then, he was suddenly struck with a great idea. He turned to Lute and told him…

“Lute, why don’t we get some more help?”

“I don’t think that’s possible. When I was in the plaza, I saw a crowd of them enter the village. We really have to leave here soon.”

It was a pity. Varen sighed in defeat. For now, they have to get out of this village alive. Then they could find other ways to survive.

As they left the inn with them, Genie fell in deep thought.

‘The chasers…… I wonder which guild it was? What about the NPCs that attacked them?’

She tilted her head in confusion as she approached Varen once they arrived near the carriage that was hidden and prepared in the forest.

“Your Highness. Looking at the situation right now, wouldn’t it be better for you to have more reinforcements?”

“That would be for the best.”

Varen looked down. He was stricken with grief as he recalled the faces of those people tortured and bleeding as they gave them a chance to survive.

“Then, I should go ahead and call my colleagues.”

“Thank you.”

He said it as if it was just normal but she wondered why his shoulders were so tense when he said those words.

Then, Genie went to her guild chatting window.

***

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