Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 462: Japanese Server

He had reached the ‘Death Vortex’ with Brod. But when they arrived, Brod said that he could not go with him any further, and only told him about how to get through the Death Vortex safely.

Minhyuk expressed his doubt after hearing Brod’s words, ‘You won’t come with me, Brod?’

‘I’m sorry, but I believe it would be difficult if I came with you.’

‘How come?’

Brod was someone that had already gone through that passageway, so Minhyuk wondered why he could not go with him.

‘The Red Goblin did not let me pass through the gates in the past, so I beat him up a few times. But after I attacked him, some kind of force stopped me from entering and ejected me from the passageway. If I go in with Your Majesty, there’s a chance that you might get thrown out of the passageway too.’

‘…’

Strangely enough, Minhyuk thought that it was something to be expected from Brod. After all, he was someone that extorted the kingdom troops’ summons! There were even tales about the famous line he told the Great Demon Verus: ‘Make sure you look at others kindly next time!’.

‘Red Goblin is the gatekeeper guarding the passageway connecting the continents so it knows a lot of secret information. From what I gathered, he can also give out decrees that will allow one to cross from Abbar Continent back to Asgan Continent. I believe it would be better for you to coax him so you can dig for more information and get the decrees from his hands.’

Minhyuk nodded as he recalled the conversation he had with the Dragon King not too long ago. The Dragon King said, ‘This is the Sea Honey that has become more addictive.’ He had received a stronger and more addictive Sea Honey from the Dragon King. This was the liquid that he dropped in the spicy stir-fried pork that he made for Red Goblin.

Also, Minhyuk knew that these things would be troublesome if he got recognized in Japan. After all, he was now one of the world-famous figures. That was why he used ‘Demon’s Face’, a special effect from his recently obtained ‘Great Demon Verus’ Mask’. The moment he used the Demon’s Face, he could change his face to any of the humans that Great Demon Verus had met in the past.

Right now, Minhyuk’s face had changed to that of a young man of around the same age as him.

Then, Minhyuk took out the stir-fried pork that he had prepared in advance. Of course, this stir-fried pork was also mixed with Sea Honey.

“Hurry, hurry…!” Red Goblin urged Minhyuk as cold sweat dripped down from his forehead.

“My demand is simple, just give me a boat. Even a small sailing boat is fine, as long as it\'s a boat.”

Red Goblin jumped up and down as if he was going crazy from want while he listened to Minhyuk’s demand. His vision had started to blur as cold sweat continued to drip down from his forehead. This was the typical withdrawal symptoms from using Sea Honey! All he could do was nod his head as quickly as he could to make Minhyuk give him the dish faster.

“Second. My friends might come pass by here later, so please make sure to let them through.”

Nod, nod!

“Third. Give me hints about the Eternal Flame and also give me a Return Order.”

“You, you’re asking for too much, aren’t you?! I’m just protecting this place because I’m tasked to protect it!”

“Of course, of course. I understand you, Mister Goblin. Who else can understand your feelings aside from me. Right?” Minhyuk placed his palm on his chest and nodded, with a benevolent and kind expression on his face. He even went a step further by clasping his hands together and speaking softly at him with watery eyes.

“You think I’ll ask about it for nothing, huh? My friends will bring you tasty dishes too when they pass by, you know?”

“Is… is that so?!” Red Goblin exclaimed, his eyes widening and sparkling brightly. It was a truly tempting deal.

Minhyuk, while gently patting Red Goblin’s back, said, “A good thing in exchange for another good thing. Let’s make a good deal, alright? I’ll make sure to tell my friends to bring many dishes.”

Minhyuk sounded as if he was talking about putting wads of money in apple boxes[1]!

“Al, alright…!”

The Red Goblin looked conflicted for a while, but in the end, Minhyuk was able to successfully coax him into agreeing. And with that, Minhyuk was able to get a Return Decree to Asgan Continent, a small sailing boat, and information about the Eternal Flames.

***

All of the seas were connected. However, the Dragon King’s Sea and the seas of Abbar Continent, the Japanese Server, were definitely different. There was no concept of ‘pirates and piracy’ in the seas of Asgan Continent, but in Abbar Continent, pirates ran rampant.

The biggest contributor to this was none other than that one famous Japanese comic. It was Ali’s favorite comic that featured the words ‘This is our token! Frieeeeeeeeeend!’ and made many of the Japanese players dream about sailing in the seas of Athenae. And because many of the Japanese players chose to become pirates, the Athenae Japanese Branch focused on creating and building various quests, hunting grounds, and rewards around their server’s seas.

Currently, a huge warship was leisurely sailing and circling the seas. However, there were only three people aboard this huge ship. These three were pirates of the Ever Sea.

Taichi, one of the men onboard, was wearing a navy uniform. However, his class was originally a ‘samurai’. The samurai class was similar to Korea’s swordsman class and Taichi was already close to the peak of this class.

There was also a man named Baroch. Among them, he was the only one with the original ‘pirate’ class. And since he was the one with the most amount of skills related to piracy, he was the most fussy and picky among them.

And finally, there was Nana, a great beauty that no one would believe that she was one of the pirates. Her class was ‘Alchemy Slaughterer’. She was good at making a variety of potions and was in fact as strong as some of the top assassins.

The reason why the three of them were taking the huge warship for a spin by themselves was because they were confident in their strength. After all, in the official Japanese rankings, Taichi was ranked 31st, Baroch was ranked 6th, and Nana was ranked 19th. Their high levels had allowed them to become big names in the field of piracy.

The three of them did not discriminate, they would kill everyone whether they were NPCs or players, and would loot all kinds of ships, from warships, pirate ships, fishing boats, to even transport ships. After taking away everything from them, they would then dismantle their things and ships, before reselling them. They were notorious, with their PK count exceeding 5,000 per person. They also often treated NPCs as if they were flies, and acted as if they were real pirates who enjoyed watching those that they kill beg for their lives.

“We won’t have any sacrifices if things continue like this…” Baroch, a pirate with an eye patch covering one of his eyes, expressed his disapproval.

Nana nodded and said, “We must find a sacrifice for the Kraken King’s hunt by tomorrow.”

“If we can’t find any sacrifices by tomorrow then the Kraken King will retreat deep down in the abyss again.”

The being that they were talking about was none other than the ruler of Ever Seas, the Kraken King, which only appeared for two days every year in game time. The Kraken King had tentacles that were about ten meters long and weighed around several thousands of tons. A few slams from one of its tentacles was enough to destroy a fully-functioning warship. In addition, what made it hard to hunt the Kraken King was the fact that it could also get help from the creatures under the sea.

The three of them might be their country’s top rankers standing at Levels 540, 551, and 530, but the Kraken King was at Level 630. They were fully aware that they could not kill the Kraken King so easily. One wrong move and all three of them would be logged out.

But that did not mean that there was no way for them at all to win.

‘We can make an offering to the Kraken King.’

‘The sacrifice that we have to offer should at least be as strong as us.’

‘The Kraken is a gourmand that only eats the strong.’

A legend had been passed down across the seas about how the Kraken King liked the food on land, and that it would not eat anything unless they were strong, like the two-headed sharks that were known for their violent and fierce nature at sea. It was also omnivorous and would eat both meat and greens.

This method was, in fact, proven by the community sites. According to the news, the Kraken, after eating a player that completed their transfer to high class, did not attack the other players despite the players’ attacks landing continuously on its body for a full minute.

‘A minute is enough, having that leeway means that we have a high chance of triggering a critical hit.’

‘One minute is enough for us to kill it.’

They needed a living sacrifice that was why they attacked the warship that they were on now. However, none of the people on board this warship met their requirements. Then…

“What’s that?” The pirate and their leader, Baroch, looked suspiciously through his telescope. The other two immediately went behind him to look at what he was looking at.

Baroch saw a man sailing on a sailboat alone through his telescope. From what he could see, the man was throwing what seemed to be a bloody ‘harpoon’ at sea.

“A player?”

“That’s definitely a player, right?”

The three of them looked at the man in doubt. It was extremely rare for someone to come out to sea alone. For players that sail at sea alone, it was either just one of the two: players who were in distress, or players from Asgan Continent that occasionally slipped through the passageway.

“He looks like a Korean.”

“Ho?”

That was when they realized.

“If he can pass through the Death Vortex then that means that he’s as strong as we are, right?”

That was right. That man over there was their perfect ‘sacrifice’. However, they still had to confirm that to some extent. They quickly approached the man. When the man saw them, he smiled brightly and waved his hand at them excitedly while shouting something, “… men… ge… don… tako… konni…!!!”

“…???”

“…???”

“…???”

As they got closer, the man’s words finally started to make sense.

“Konnichiwa~~~ Karaage! Ramen! Takoyaki! Donburi! Sushi! Beef katsu! Oishi!!!”

“…?”

“…?”

“…?”

The trio shot the man a weird look. They wondered if this was a new type of crazy. The words that the man uttered were all of the famous dishes in Japan. Translating it, it would be: Hello! Karaage! Ramyeon! Takoyaki! Donburi! Sushi! Beef Katsu! Delicious!!! or something along those lines.

The three of them snickered.

“He’s perfect.”

“The bastard looks a bit wonky in the head.”

“Perhaps this is the God of the Sea helping us?”

Vicious smiles curled up around their mouths. Then, they maneuvered their warship to get close to the sailing boat.

“Were you in distress? We’re from the navy. You might already know this but we’re also players.”

“I’m not in distress. But I think I’m in trouble!”

“What seems to be your problem?”

“I’m so excited to be here!!! Oh my god! I came to the land of donburi, karaage and beef katsu! But now…”

The man suddenly turned sullen.

“…I’m hungry.”

The three looked at him and said…

“Let’s hang your small sailing boat and get you onboard our warship so we can bring you to land.”

“We also have a lot of food on board. You’re probably Korean but as someone from Japan, we also want to treat you to something as a greeting.”

“You’ll really do that?”

“Of course.”

This was how the three of them plundered, looted and killed the people in distress. By getting them onboard their own ship. The man climbed on the rope that they threw at him before pulling his sailboat up. Just like that, the man boarded their warship safely.

The man said, “I’m very happy to have met kind people like you! So lucky! Thank goodness. Ramen… n, no… Amen…!”

“You’re a very interesting person, huh?”

“Hahahahaha!”

The three of them could only think of the man as someone that was lacking in the brains department. Then, Nana asked, “I saw you throwing a bloody harpoon at sea earlier. Did you hunt some monsters?”

“I made a friend at sea, you see. The harpoon was stuck in their body so I took it out and we became friends!”

“Ah…”

“You’re very nice.”

“Yeah. You made a friend as soon as you came here.”

“Where’s that monster friend of yours?”

“They already went home. But we’ll see each other next time.”

They all believed that the man was as gullible as he was sociable. These kind of people were usually stupid and naive. They naturally maneuvered their ship to go to the ‘Kraken’s Sacred Land’. They planned to take the man near there, knock him out, and throw him out to sea so that the Kraken would come out to eat him up.

“Wow! Wow! Can I really eat as much food as I want on this ship?”

“Yeah. Please help yourself.”

“Hahahaha! You can eat everything!”

Their plan went smoothly. And just like that, their warship approached the vicinity of the Kraken’s Sacred Land. But then…

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—

The warship suddenly began to shake and tremble. The three of them were very shocked to see a gigantic octopus head break from the surface of the sea. And from what it looked like, its tentacles were around ten meters long.

[The Kraken King has appeared!]

[The Kraken King is one of the ten legendary monsters!]

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

The three pirates were very flustered.

‘Why, why did it appear now…?!’

‘What the hell? Why did the Kraken suddenly appear?!’

The three of them could not help but wonder why the Kraken suddenly appeared beyond their expected point. They could not help but flinch when they saw its gigantic size. But then, the Kraken’s huge eyes suddenly turned into crescents as it lifted one of its tentacles that was as long as their warship and waved at someone.

Then, they heard a voice ring loudly beside them, “Sukhoe[2]?! You brat!!! Is this where you live?! Is the part where I took out the harpoon alright? Is it still painful?”

‘The monster that he pulled the harpoon from…’

‘The friend that he got close to…?’

“Sukhoe?!” Nana asked, her voice shaking.

“Ah. I gave him a name. Last name Octopus, first name Sukhoe. Octopus Sukhoe! Sukhoe!!! Say hello to your oppa’s friends!!!” Minhyuk said as he waved both of his arms towards Kraken King.

‘The Kraken King was the friend that he made by taking out the harpoon…?’

‘He named the Kraken King, Octopus Sukhoe?’

Something was definitely wrong here.

1. A reference to bribery and corruption in KR where they usually place wads of cash in apple boxes. ☜

2. A variety of hoe(raw food) dishes consisting of blanched vegetables, seafood or offals. ☜