Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

“Hoo─”

He chewed the steaming grilled eel that he placed in his mouth. The grilled eel that was perfectly grilled. Each and every bite of the golden grilled eel was crispy and bursting with savory juices. It was as if the crispy juiciness was telling him how well the eel was grilled.

Minhyuk nodded and smiled happily after he tasted the original flavor of the eel. Then, he slowly picked up another piece of meat while wondering about how he would eat it.

This time, he picked up a piece of perilla leaf before placing half a spoonful of steaming rice on top of it. Then, he placed the grilled eel that he had dipped in soy sauce on top of it. He also did not forget to add a slice of ginger. After adding everything that he wanted to eat, he rolled the leaf and placed it in his mouth.

“Chew, chew.”

He could easily savor the scent of the food in his mouth. The unique fragrance of the perilla leaf made his senses feel comfortable and relaxed. And every time he chewed the wrap, the taste of the perilla leaf, the grilled eel and the sliced ginger would meet and dance in his mouth.

“Haha. Isn’t it delicious?”

It was so delicious that a smile unconsciously curled in his mouth. It was a smile that came out and went away so easily.

Eel was an ingredient that was good for replenishing energy and was considered to be one of the best ingredients that were good for one’s health. So as soon as he tasted the deliciousness, he could also feel the heat that was climbing in his body. It was the power of the 3,000 year-old eel that could warm up the body even during the harshest days in winter.

When he looked in front of him, he could see Kongie eating happily as he scooped up a spoonful of rice with his tiny little hands before placing it in his mouth. After he chewed the rice in his mouth well, Kongie stretched out his spoon towards the eel soup. He tasted a spoonful of the eel soup. Kongie savored the flavor of the various ingredients that were added in the soup. He could taste the flavor of the soybean paste, the siraegi as well as the perilla leaves.

Then, Minhyuk said……

“Kong-ah, one of the biggest charms of the eel soup or even the bone hangover soup is the siraegi.”

Minhyuk also took a sip of the eel soup while lifting some siraegi up. The siraegi that was boiled in the soup absorbed a lot of the savory soup. He quickly placed the siraegi on top of his rice before chomping on it. As soon as he chewed, the soup that the siraegi absorbed flowed out and spread in his mouth. He happily tasted the soft texture of the radish and rice.

Then, he quickly picked up another piece of grilled meat before dipping it in his previously prepared sauce and placing it in his mouth. The spicy and sweet flavor of the sauce together with the delicious taste of protein from the eel tasted fantastic in his mouth.

This time, he spread a piece of perilla leaf that was seasoned with soy sauce on his plate. Then, he placed a large piece of eel meat on top of it before rolling it up and placing it in his mouth. The seasoned perilla leaf had a savory and tangy flavor to it that added some salty and sour flavor to the meat.

How delicious is a plain grilled eel wrapped with this seasoned perilla leaf?

As he munched on this delicious combination, Minhyuk took two cans out of his inventory.

Fwiish─

He opened one can, poured it in a glass with ice and placed it in front of Kongie.

Fwiish─

Then, he also opened one for himself. It was none other than a cold can of beer. He could feel the coldness through the can of frosted beer.

“That’s right. Beer should taste like this!”

Beer tasted the best when you drink it after toiling in front of the warm and fiery charcoal. Without any hesitation, he gulped the beer happily.

Doesn’t the first sip of beer taste better if you drink it all in one go?

Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp─

“Kyaaa!”

He couldn’t stop himself from letting out a gasp in awe.

“It’s amazing! Really great!”

He smiled happily at the taste of the cold beer.

This time, he picked a piece of lettuce and perilla leaf and placed them on top of each other. Then, he dipped the piece of eel in ssamjang and placed it on top of the leaves. He also did not forget to add garlic, ginger and a chili pepper on top of it. Eating this combination had let him enjoy the tingling sensation of the spicy and strong ingredients.

He wiped the sweat off of his forehead after eating a big wrap like that. Then, he grilled the ones that he had marinated earlier.

Sizzle─

He silently lifted the tail while he grilled the marinated eel. It was popular knowledge that the tail of the eel was filled with nutrients.

“It’s good for energy, right?”

The problem was that there was nothing written about it. However, the texture of the tail was very elastic and chewy. As soon as the marinated eel was grilled, he quickly cut off that piece and chewed on it. The marinated eel was just like the marinated pork and beef ribs. It could be seasoned and marinated with gochujang or soy sauce. But Minhyuk preferred the gochujang marinade better. So his marinated eel looked glossy with its red seasoning. He quickly brought the freshly cooked and glistening red marinated eel on a plate as he placed it in front of him. Then, he placed a ginger on top of it before placing it in his mouth.

“Hmm. Delicious!”

The combination of the sweet and spicy flavor of the gochujang and the tangy flavor of the ginger was in harmony.

This time, he chomped on the grilled marinated eel with some rice. The grilled marinated eel tasted delicious even if he did not add anything on it. He would even pick two large pieces of marinated eel and place them in his mouth all at once. The texture and flavor of the eel gave his mouth a strange feeling of pleasure and happiness.

And he was finally down to his last piece.

He added his remaining rice into the pot of eel soup. He did not even forget to tilt the earthen pot and scrape it down to the last drop. After finishing everything, Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction.

“Waaaa! Delicious!”

“Oink!”

Kongie was also smiling in satisfaction.

After he finished eating, Minhyuk heard the notifications once more. When all the notifications finished ringing, Minhyuk decided to open the ‘notification window’ to check everything one by one from the very beginning.

***

The Demon Gremory was looking at a man through her crystal ball.

[Mineral Pordinium? What’s this? What’s the Hero’s Will quest?]

‘Are you almost there?’

The Episode Quest: People who received the Will of the Heroes and that quest had something in common. What they had in common was receiving special minerals as rewards.

The man that was shown in the crystal ball was someone that Gremory did not know but he was Shining Ron, the 31st in the official rankings in Korea. And she could see that the ‘Hero’s Will’ quest was something that was not far away from him. In addition, the minerals that they would receive had a variety of special powers. These special powers would be the force and strength of the ‘heroes’.

Gremory remembered the foreigner who had presented her with ganjajang, tangsuyuk, and plenty other foods not too long ago. The foreigner Minhyuk who had the antarinium.

‘The most powerful mineral.’

He was able to finish all of Gremory’s trials without a hitch. For that reason, he was able to strike a deal with her once he obtained the ‘antanirium’.

But didn’t he just place it in front of me as soon as he said that?

Then, a thought suddenly popped up in her head.

‘He’s not going to do something weird with that mineral, right?’

Not long after, she dismissed such a thought as a dull and boring idea.

No matter how much he likes to eat, what can he even do with minerals?

However, Gremory’s expression suddenly distorted.

‘He wouldn’t put it in his mouth and think that it’s some sort of candy, right?’

Grin─

When the thought crossed her mind, she couldn’t help but smile. She thought that she had lost her mind for a moment there.

***

[Eccentric Chef]

[You have made grilled eel with charcoal made out of the World Tree and a 3,000 year-old eel.]

[The Food God’s greatness dwells in this Eccentric Cooking.]

[Adding up your Eccentric Score.]

[Your Eccentric Score is 68.]

[You will be able to acquire bonus stats based on your Eccentric Score.]

[You have acquired +3 on all five of your basic stats.]

[The Unique ranked ‘Eccentric Grilled Eel’ has been born.]

‘The Food God’s greatness dwells in this Eccentric Cooking?’

After thinking about it for a while, Minhyuk could somehow understand what it meant. Under the original Athenean system, medicine should not be cooked. However, because of Minhyuk’s ‘Food God’s Greatness’ he was able to ignore the penalties.

Right now, he cooked one of the greatest medicines. And in addition to his Eccentric Cooking, the Food God’s Greatness was also ingrained in the food that he ate. It did not disappear. And the notifications that he had heard were all notifications about the 3,000 year-old eel-based dish.

[You have eaten the ‘Eccentric Grilled Eel’.]

[You have acquired 121 STR and 113 STM.]

[You have acquired 200 Leadership points.]

[You can store 21% STR, 20% STM and 20% DEX.]

[You can store 40% Elf Affinity.]

[You can store the Skill: World Tree’s Grace.]

The things that he had acquired and the things that he could store were definitely different from each other. In the case of acquisition, it literally meant that the things and stats that he had acquired would result in a permanent rise in his stats.

On the contrary, the ‘store’ meant that he could delete his previously stored ‘Eccentric Ganjajang’ effects and save a new power. It literally had the same principle and concept as unequipping old artifacts and equipping newer and better artifacts.

In the case of ‘You can store’, this notification was something that he did not hear when he first ate the ganjajang. The only reason for this was because he had no skill, stat or effect stored back then.

Of course, Minhyuk saved the abilities that he could store from the grilled eel. As soon as he made his choice, he could hear the storage notifications.

Then, he went to check the notifications window once more. He was checking the last notification. It was a notification for a quest completion.

[You have completed the Class Quest: Make a Special Tool.]

[You have acquired Gorac’s Special Skill: ‘Gorac’s Ingredient Creation’.]

“Oh……!”

Minhyuk looked at it happily. He had a good hunch when he saw the name so he quickly checked the information.

(Gorac’s Ingredient Creation)

Active Skill

Level: 1

Mana Required: 1,500

Cooldown: None

Effects:

─ This is the ability needed to make various condiments from minerals. You can easily grind minerals into condiments in one go.

─ Creating ingredients is based on your level. There may be other ingredients and materials that you still can’t make yet based on your current level.

“Yes!”

Minhyuk almost jumped in glee. It was a very great skill. He had tried time and again to make antarinium into a ‘condiment’ but he had failed every single time. He did not know if this skill could really grind the anatrinium into a condiment.

[Do you want to use Gorac’s Ingredient Creation?]

[Antarinium is a mineral that can be made into a great seasoning. It can also be used as gochugaru.]

[The grinding of Antarinium has started.]

The figure of antarinium appeared in front of Minhyuk. Then, it was sucked into a grinder with a lot of demonic patterns engraved on it.

Crush, crush, crush!

A loud noise rang in the surroundings as red powder began to fall. Underneath the grinder, a large bowl was filled with gochugaru. Minhyuk smiled happily when he saw the antarinium being ground into gochugaru. As soon as the antarinium finished grinding, notifications rang loudly in his ears again.

[You have completed the Class Quest: Special Seasoning.]

[You have acquired one of Gorac’s Artifacts.]

When he heard the notifications, Minhyuk immediately closed his eyes and prayed.

‘Please. Please let it be something that can help me make something delicious! I’m begging you!’

And surprisingly, his desperation and prayers bore fruit. What appeared in front of Minhyuk was none other than a ‘Gigantic Mixer and Bowl’.

***

Beas Village was a village located just below the Berest Mountains. It was a village that did not have a huge population and even NPCs that moved in and out of the village were only few and far in between.

About two months ago, both Beas Village and the Berest Mountains opened to the public. There were plenty of users who cheered happily when they saw this information in Athenae’s official homepage. It was because Beas Village and the Berest Mountains were the ‘meeting venues’ where users all over the world could meet for the ‘first time’. This was the place that Joy Co. Ltd. prepared to test what would happen if people from all over the world met.

However, not long after, plenty of the users were left in disappointment. The only reason was because of the ‘warp stone’. Before one could enter Beas Village, they would need to have a ‘warp stone’. This warp stone was something that could not be bought with money and could only be received through a quest. And the quest was mostly available to high-leveled players. Because of this hurdle, it was rare for users to actually step foot in Beas Village.

Even now, there were only 30 global users in Beas Village.

Step, step─

Right now, there was a man walking out of Beas Village. He seemed to be heading for the Berest Mountains. The man was grinning as he walked with his robe and staff.

‘I’m finally here! Berest Mountains!’

He was grinning widely that his mouth looked like it would tear open. He had long since collected information on the thousand-year-old ginseng. He even proceeded with the quest ‘Hero’s Liberation’ while he was collecting information.

It’s the thousand-year-old ginseng that increases the mana reserves by 1.5x!

He never dreamt that he would be able to step foot in this place.

That was right. He was none other than Ali the ‘Black Mage’. And right now, he had started walking towards the Berest Mountains.

***

Food Discussion Corner

Siraegi (시래기) - Dried radish stems and leaves.

Gochugaru (고춧가루) - red chili powder

Notes:

Food God’s Greatness - This was previously written as Food Fighter’s Greatness but since we’ve been using Food God more often for his class, I used Food God instead of Food Fighter. Both Food God and Food Fighter are the name for his job class. Food Fighter is written in hanja though.

Black Mage - I previously used Black Wizard for Ali’s class but I think I have used Mage for all the other classes so I believe I should use this for uniformity.

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