Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

“Oiink!”

Kongie extremely hated the word cute. He slammed the baton on the palm of his hands once more! Then, he ordered them.

“Oink, oink, oink!”

And Minhyuk translated his words for the rest of them.

“Roll forward!”

“Aha?”

The knight who called Kongie cute earlier lied down in front of him.

“Oink, oink!”

“Roll to the left!”

“Hahahaha!”

“Oink, oink!”

“Roll to the right!”

“Hahahaha.”

Perhaps it was because Kongie’s behavior was just too cute that was why the knight kept on laughing even though he was lying on the ground and rolling. To some extent, the tension that was hanging strongly over the heads of the Rice Supplement troop was alleviated.

“Well then, we should stop here. Kong-ah, shall we find something delicious?”

“Oink?!”

Kongie’s eyes widened when he heard the word delicious. Then, his shiny pink nose began to twitch. Kongie moved quickly before pointing under the ground.

“Let’s dig the ground.”

Then, they started to dig the ground.

“......!”

The knights were all astonished when they saw food coming out every time they dug the land.

According to Minhyuk’s guess, there’s a high possibility that the food ingredients were concentrated in this area. The only way that they could be self sufficient was to either hunt the monsters or pick the fruits by themselves but the probability of finding small hidden berries that were usually in small quantities were pitifully small. If they left it like that, they would end up starving themselves.

Minhyuk continued to lead the troops in search of food. Not long after, they found a cave.

“Oink, oink!”

The moment they entered the cave, notifications rang in Minhyuk’s head.

“......!”

It was a discovery that Minhyuk never expected.

When they went deeper in the cave, Minhyuk saw a magnificent scene in front of them. Animals with meat that could be used for food were all over the place. Chicken, duck, pig, sheep and so on. Their numbers were too large to count.

Minhyuk couldn’t help but mumble to himself.

“......I want to live here forever.”

Night was almost upon them.

Bendiaz approached Minhyuk and spoke to him.

“We should dig a hole to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Hmm. That’s also an idea.”

But not long after, Minhyuk thought of a better idea.

“Let’s get some Gilderin tree branches and some Gorman vinyl leaves.”

“Yes? I understand.”

Bendiaz was quite curious about his thoughts but he still followed his orders. After all, every time he led them, he would show them amazing things.

Giderin’s tree branches were quite the unusual creatures. They were usually hanging around or lying down on the ground in a loose and relaxed way but once someone slapped them with their palm they would be as tight as the string of a taut fishing rod. Meanwhile, Gorman’s vinyl leaves looked like plastic but they were much tougher than regular plastic.

Minhyuk began to sew and weave the Gorman’s vinyl leaves that they have collected. He could see a red mark in front of his eyes in every leaf which helped increase his speed further.

‘He, he’s extremely fast……’

“Wow……”

“Are there other knights who know how to sew? We’re going to make a big tent before digging a hole so we can huddle up and sleep warmly.”

The knights who knew how to sew immediately began to sew according to his instructions. However, not long after, something surprising happened.

‘What’s this……?’

‘Did I sew this well before?’

They were quite shocked. They thought that they would only be able to sew sloppily at best since they only had mediocre skills but that was not the case at all. They even sew at a fairly rapid pace.

“It’s because of the antarinium.”

Team Leader Park mumbled as he looked at the monitor. Lee Minhwa’s head snapped up when she heard his words.

Antarinium.

It was a mineral with endless and immense power. And one of its advantages was this…

The guild members, party members or troops of those who owned the antarinium would experience a 20% increase in their special stats that couldn’t be raised with bonus points. This was also the reason why the knights under Minhyuk were able to shoot their arrows exceptionally well earlier. Even their five basic stats would increase by 15%. And that had an enormous effect on their strengths. And their stats would increase without any mana used or cooldown restriction.

Team Leader Park saw through the monitor that Minhyuk finally finished sewing a large tent from the leaves that he was sewing and weaving earlier. The tent looked extremely solid and sturdy.

“This is the power of 2,000 DEX……”

The power of the dexterity stat was so vast and versatile that he was even able to create a huge tent in the wild. And since they were the ones who made that tent, they would be able to store that in their inventory and use it the next day.

Team Leader Park couldn’t help but sigh.

“......He’s going to cook now.”

Lee Minhwa nodded her head solemnly.

“Thanks to the effects of antarinium, their five basic stats had increased by 15% and even their special stats had increased by 20%. And now, they will even have a food buff effect……”

Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor blankly after saying those words.

“It’s like one versus 100. That’s not too bad of an estimate……”

“Yeah.”

Team Leader Park also nodded his head in agreement. Then, Lee Minhwa suddenly thought of something before turning her head to look at Team Leader Park.

“What if the individual contributions exceeded the normal numbers and approached the ridiculously impossible numbers?”

Team Leader Park grinned at her question.

“That’s just ridiculous…… In order for the individual contribution to rise to that level he must have a monopoly on the score against Bach and Eclei. But having a monopoly over the scores meant that even their knights would go under Minhyuk’s commands. That doesn’t even make sense, you know?”

“Ah. Well……”

Lee Minhwa smiled confidently.

But just like she had expected, she shouldn’t have felt relieved.

Minhyuk saw his commanding ability soar to 40%. But he did not want it to end there so he used his ‘Create a Recipe’ skill for each of the members of his Rice Supplement company.

His Create a Recipe skill would eat away at his buffing ability whenever he used it so he wouldn’t be able to feed them all at once. But thanks to his artifacts, titles and skills, his buffing ability had permanently risen. So if he divided them accordingly all throughout the three meals in a day, he would be able to feed each and every one of them with the Create a Recipe skill. There was also a probability of achieving a x2 effect using the Create a Recipe skill.

Deciding the division, Minhyuk first decided to use his Create a Recipe skill to cook for Bendiaz and the other key figures in the company. He also enlarged his legendary frying pan as he cooked stir-fried pork while cooking dozens of servings of rice.

“Shouldn’t we be the one to be doing this?”

“Who does it or who doesn’t do it, is it that important? I just want everyone to end this war in comfort with a full stomach.”

The company members were all thrilled with Minhyuk’s lip service which led to an increase in favorability. And as a result, the % of his commanding ability also increased.

“But will it be delicious?”

“Who knows……”

The entire company was left in wonder as Minhyuk distributed some spicy stir-fried pork, lettuce, perilla leaves and rice to each of them.

Among the knights, Knight William was known for his picky and fastidious taste in food. He often quarreled with his wife back home because of that. Even the rice served in the Imperial Palace did not suit his taste. And because of that, he did not have much expectations on the food that was served to him.

Knight William quietly scooped a spoonful of rice before placing it in his mouth.

“The rice is not that bad.”

It was made just right. It was not too tough nor too sticky.

Then, he took a lettuce and placed half a spoonful of rice together with some spicy stir-fried pork. He also did not forget to pick some garlic before dipping it in some ssamjang and placing it on top of his rice. Then, he wrapped everything up neatly and placed it in his mouth.

Chew. chew.

Knight William’s eyes opened wide as he chewed on his wrap. For a moment, he seemed to have heard a heavenly harmony in his head. Just like what happened with Priest Kenneth in the past.

“H, how can this be……”

Surprised at the flavor, William kept on eating his spicy stir-fried pork. The spicy and sweet flavor of the dish quietly spread in his mouth as the juices of the meat overflowed in his every bite. The meat was so tender that it seemed like it was melting away whenever he chewed on it.

“D, delicious…… It’s very delicious……!”

“Wow. It’s really delicious!”

“My goodness! I can’t believe that I’m out here in the wild eating something like this!”

“Wow!!!”

What was the most awaited time when someone was working? Wherever you are in the world, the answer would definitely be lunch time. People would even work desperately hard just to eat something delicious. Wouldn’t you feel like you would be able to do all of your work today if you had a good meal? That was what everyone was feeling right now.

Meanwhile, Bendiaz ate the dish that Minhyuk made for him using his Create a Recipe skill. After tasting the dish, he couldn’t help but eat everything in a hurry. When he finished everything, he was caught in shock by the notifications that rang in his ears.

“......!”

Bendiaz couldn’t believe what he had heard.

The soldiers that were sitting all over the place were all shocked and astounded.

“Heok……! All stats…… increased by 7%......!”

“What the hell is this?”

“N, no way!”

All of them were shocked! They couldn’t believe that such delicious food had given them such a high buff. And it was not even just for one or two people. All 50 soldiers had received at least a 5% increase in all of their stats.

“R, really amazing.”

Minhyuk smiled when he heard their words.

“Do you believe me now?”

“Yes.”

The eyes of all the knights present shone brightly.

At the same time, his commanding ability increased by another 20%.

“At this rate, you will all be able to eat my Create a Recipe dishes by tomorrow. So we’ll stay around this area.”

“If we do that, won’t we be late?”

“It’s fine.”

Minhyuk had also received information about the Immortals’ Land. His information came from the Informant Abel. And Minhyuk made a plan based on the information that he had received.

He knew that Eclei and Bach would definitely move on as fast as they could. However, they would all be tired because of the weather and because of hunger. On the contrary, they would all be fully prepared. Their stats would increase dramatically, their stomachs would be full and they would be able to beat the cold. By that time, they could easily catch up to them in a heartbeat.

And the next day, every member of Minhyuk’s company was able to eat his Create a Recipe dishes and receive their personally tailored buffs. Only then did Minhyuk decide to speed up. So they ran just like that.

‘According to Abel-nim……’

There would be a number of mobs around here that they should penetrate through.

“I’ll pull a wide-area aggro so don’t worry too much.”

“Yes? Wi, wide-area ag, agg……!”

My goodness! No matter how strong we have become, a wide-area aggro?! In the Immortals’ Land?!

Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii―

But before they could even protest, the Gryphon’s Cry had already whistled out of Minhyuk’s mouth and hundreds of ogres began to flock around them.

“L, Lord……”

“Commander-nim…… I don’t think this is right.”

“No matter how strong we have become, this is too……”

They thought that Minhyuk was just a talented chef that was good at shooting the bow. But he hadn’t shown them anything else.  Everyone was extremely shocked and thought that they were going to die.

At that moment……

Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn―

Minhyuk took out his millstone before sitting down and turning it around.

‘O, our Commander-nim is a little weird!!!’

‘Ah, for real! Sometimes I feel like he’s really a madman!!’

‘OMG……?’

There were hundreds of ogres coming in but he just ground his millstone in front of them. Turning it nonchalantly.

Then……

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Dark clouds suddenly appeared above the ogre’s heads as hundreds of lightning strikes fell down on them.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

“Keuaack!”

“Aaaaaaargh!”

“Gruwooooo!”

The ogres were struck down by lightning and they couldn’t even get their senses and act together. At that moment, silver leaves started to fall down as a breeze blew gently. While waiting for the skill’s buffer time, Minhyuk shouted.

“Shoot them with your bows!!”

The knights quickly pulled their bows . At the same time, the Fluttering Sword’s skill buffer time also ended.

“Fire!”

Minhyuk also swung his sword as hard as he could. Fifty arrows and hundreds of falling leaves shot straight towards the ogres.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh―

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud―

The still falling Lightning Hell, the sword-like falling leaves and the rain of arrows. With all of these attacks falling down on the mobs, they truly could not get their act together. Then, the knights pulled their bows once more.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh―

After the Lightning Hell’s duration ended, what appeared in front of them were all the dead corpses of the monsters.

“Isn’t it easy?”

“......”

“......”

“......”

“......”

“......”

“......”

“......”

“......”

All of the knights were left speechless for a moment while Minhyuk smiled happily at the rapidly rising % of his enemy kills. He also saw that his commanding ability had already reached 96%.

After doing all of that, Minhyuk continued to run with his troops. Not long after, they were able to see Eclei and Bach’s troops that went ahead of them.

“H, hungry……”

“I think I’m going crazy……”

“An, anyone. Does anyone have any beef jerky or nuts left?”

Minhyuk tried to pass by them but he saw Eclei and Bach staring bitterly at him.

“Hello!!!?”

“......Shut up.”

He did not know why they got irritated at him. Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He turned around and saw the soldiers complaining in hunger. A bittersweet smile hung around the corners of his mouth.

“Bendiaz-nim.”

“Yes?”

“Those knights, should we lead them to the OE Religion…..”

“What’s OE Religion?”

“N, nothing. It was a slip of the tongue! Ehehehe!”

Minhyuk smiled awkwardly as he spoke under his breath with a vicious smile on his face.

“I think I found a way to bring them to my company.”

Notes:

We have 먹빨 (overeating?) instead of 템빨 (overgeared). That was OE. Over Eating. Lol.

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