Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 658: The First Priest

Minhyuk gratefully received the parchment that Saintess Loyna had handed over to him, and ripped the parchment apart.

[You have torn the Parchment that Guides you on the Path to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes.]

[You are being warped.]

When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he was greeted with a long bridge in front of him. The bridge was surrounded by clouds and it would make anyone dizzy just by looking down below.

There, Minhyuk summoned Hanwoo and climbed on its back as they moved towards the other end of the bridge.

“Hanwoo.”

“Mooooooo?”

“Give this hyung some rib-eye.”

Swish, swis~

“Hanwoo.”

“Mooooo?”

“Give this hyung some skirt steak.”

“Moooooo…”

Minhyuk and the Bull Demon King, Hanwoo, shared a very special relationship where they could exchange morbid jokes like this. As he rode on Hanwoo’s back, he asked, “Why is my dear Hanwoo looking so listless and weak today?”

Minhyuk climbed down and gently placed his hand on Hanwoo’s head. He looked at the cow with a curious look on his face. For some reason, he could tell that Hanwoo’s eyes looked a bit sad today.

“Mooooooo!!!” Hanwoo moo’ed loudly, scraping the ground with his hind legs. It seemed like he was playing a prank on Minhyuk.

“Did you trick me? Rascal. Hey, I might die if you run into me!”

“Moooooo!”

Hanwoo grinned, finding what they were doing fun and interesting. Minhyuk then climbed on Hanwoo’s back again.

“Hanwoo, I don’t know what kind of danger awaits us at the end of this bridge. But you and I, your hyung, we will get through it together, right?”

“Mooooooooo!”

Minhyuk smiled as he patted Hanwoo’s head once again. Then, he looked at the Food God’s True Inherent Skill that he had acquired when he received the qualifications of a True God.

(Inversing Giddiness)

Food God’s Secret

Level: None

Mana Required: 5,000

Cooldown: 144 hours.

Effects:

•Through the skill Inversing Giddiness, you can decrease the stat or skill level increase effect on the person that ate your dishes and received its buff effects. You can decrease it as much as the buff effect they received.

•God’s dishes are special. In the event that they have been subjected to the Inversing Giddiness skill, the effects of the buff and the changes you made will not disappear even if they have been forced to log out as long as it is still within the buff duration. The opponent will have to find a special way to resolve the issue.

This was the only debuff skill that Minhyuk had in his arsenal.

‘I can most definitely cast a tremendous debuff with this.’

It was also the most overpowered debuff skill that Minhyuk has ever seen in his entire life. For example, Minhyuk’s buffed dish could increase all of the stats by 20% as well as all skill levels by +1. With the Inversing Giddiness, he could reverse everything and make it so all of the stats would suffer from a 20% decrease and all skill levels by -1 decrease.

‘The most important part here is that there are no restrictions and limitations on the number of dishes.’

He could cook dishes in bulk. If Minhyuk fed hundreds of people with his buffed dishes and used Inversing Giddiness on them, they would become weaker than usual. In that situation, if he and his allies were able to eat buffed dishes successfully?

‘Perhaps there’s a chance that I can win against Great Demon Verus even if it’s a 1:1 fight, no…?’

Of course, that would only be the case if it was the same Verus that Minhyuk had fought in the past. That was also on the assumption that Verus was able to eat the dish that he made and that he was able to eat his own buffed dish safely.

Minhyuk, who was lost in those thoughts, failed to see the sadness in Hanwoo’s eyes. Hanwoo’s intelligence was not that high. However, he knew sadness too. The days that he spent with Minhyuk were very precious to him.

But they were drawing closer to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. And as they got closer, Hanwoo thought that perhaps he should walk slower and enjoy his time with his master and owner more.

Then, he saw Minhyuk look back at him and said, “Hanwoo! There should be a lot of delicious food there, right?! Maybe there’s also that special hay that you’re very fond of there?!!!”

Hanwoo looked at the bright smile on the face of his owner and just like any other day, he laughed together with him too, “Mooooo!”

***

God’s Children were a secret organization of God-class players. They were people that even the world’s Summit Five would be reluctant to deal with. In fact, some of the God-class players wanted to join the organization. Alexander had also warned Minhyuk not to clash with God’s Children as much as possible.

Now, on the path heading towards the Land of the Forgotten Heroes stood Henry, the God of Money. He was not yet revealed as a member of the God’s Children. However, there were rumors about him being the richest man in Athenae. In fact, there were even rumors about how his financial and capital power was comparable to that of Callauhel.

Just because one had money did not mean that one could grab everything in Athenae. Even for Callauhel, there were certain artifacts that he could not buy even with his money. However, that was not the case for Henry.

Henry, with his God of Money class, had a special skill called ‘Treasure Hunting’. It was a skill that could guide Henry to a special artifact and the method to obtain it. However, it could only be triggered randomly once a month. At the same time, he was operating and leading a huge merchant group. There were even some that say that the scale of his merchant group had already gone beyond that of an empire.

Currently, Henry was looking at an arrogant monkey in front of him. This monkey was none other than the Fake Sun Wukong.

There was no one in the world that was unaware of the grand story of the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal. He was the one hailed as the king of the monkeys and was the owner of the Ruyi Jingu Bang that could grow longer or shorter depending on his will, as well as the Flying Nimbus that allowed him to fly among the clouds. He was also famous for rebelling against the Gods in Heaven and fighting against the Bull Demon King as Sanzang[1]’s disciple.

However, the Sun Wukong in front of Henry was the fake one.

“We need more. We need more power, silver and gold, and treasures to pressure and defeat the real Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal.”

“Please do not worry, Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal,” Henry said, smiling softly. All the while thinking, ‘How dare this fake Sun Wukong…’

The Fake Sun Wukong was actually a protagonist of the story that has been handed down from ancient times. When the real Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal was kicked out by Sanzang, he transformed into Sun Wukong’s form and pretended to be him. Using that form, he became the ruler of the monkey-type monsters.

In the Land of Forgotten Heroes, characters that appeared in myths and legends from reality would appear here. This place was bound to be a very interesting and fun place for players. In this place they could meet the curious Zeus or the beautiful Aphrodite. That was how many mysterious things were hidden in this land.

What the Fake Sun Wukong wanted to do was to gather gold, silver and plenty of other treasures to lure out the real Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal, who had become a king in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, and secretly take his position there. Henry was in a partnership with him.

In fact, the number of players that were entering the Land of the Forgotten Heroes were increasing by the day. Even though the place was still hidden by a thin layer of veil, players were coming in streams. However, there was one thing for sure, these players were high-leveled players that were fully prepared to travel to this new land.

Now, it was thanks to their entry that Henry was able to gain gold and silver. And this was what Henry was doing. He was dividing his gold, silver and treasures with the Fake Sun Wukong. Was the amount of gold and treasures small? Not at all.

The Fake Sun Wukong actually had a special passive skill called ‘Greedy Monkey’. It was a skill that could triple the artifact and gold drop rate from the ones that he killed.

Henry’s rewards would also increase by 1.5x whenever he received someone else’s quest rewards. This was the power of ‘God of Money’ Henry. The truth was a third of the money that he earned with his global merchant group was earned through his partnership with the Fake Sun Wukong. But now, this partnership was no longer necessary.

[Your ability: Treasure Hunting has been triggered!]

[Treasure Hunting is an ability that can search for rare powers, owners of powerful artifacts and methods to obtain them!]

[Your search has been successful!]

[The Fake Sun Wukong has stolen the Jade Emperor’s Jade Seal!]

[The Jade Emperor’s Jade Seal has the power that could give one the ‘Power to Ask the Jade Emperor to Grant You One’s Wish’ and the ‘Chance to Become a King’!]

What Henry found was sufficient enough to bring a deep smile to his face. What if he became a ‘king’ in this mysterious world that no one knew about? He was already thrilled at the thought of how he could exploit and extort plenty of things from the people from this place. However, there was one problem.

“I have to get going now. We have to search for new prey,” Henry said as he left the ‘Fake Sun Wukong’s cave. The cave where the Fake Sun Wukong was currently residing was connected to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. Henry was met with his comrades the moment he got out of the cave.

“As expected, our greatest problem is our strength.”

“That’s right.”

“Hmmm…”

Henry’s expression, which was full of pretentious smiles at the Fake Sun Wukong earlier, turned grotesque. He was someone that would not care about the means. If he could use money, then he would use it. On top of that, he had strong and powerful comrades and troops.

However, it was still impossible. The Fake Sun Wukong was not as strong as the true Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal, but he was still so powerful that they could not deal with him with their power alone.

The ones that came here with Henry were his own people, moving in secret as unofficial rankers. They were also rankers that were at the top of the food chain. However, the Fake Sun Wukong was still too powerful for them.

“We need a buff. A very powerful one and something that all of us can get together.”

“…Where should we get such a buff?”

There were only a select few people that could give out such a buff. The God of Parchment, the God of Alchemy and the God of Reinforcements were a few of them. But Henry was not acquainted with them at all.

“Aaaaah, Hanwoo~ Can’t you really give some ribeye to your hyung?”

“Mooooooooooo!”

But then, at that moment, an unidentified voice rang in their ears. It seemed like there was someone that was stepping into the Land of Forgotten Heroes. Henry immediately hid with his comrades.

Amidst the thick fog, they saw the figure of a player riding on top of a cow. The player looked unfamiliar. However, Henry could tell that the ‘cow’ that the player was riding and talking to was the Food God’s Hanwoo.

Henry has already explored this unknown land. He knew that Hanwoo was the Bull Demon King and was very much aware of how much his worth was.

‘If we do this well, then…’

A good idea flashed in Henry’s head. He thought of a brilliant idea where he could kill the Fake Sun Wukong, get the Jade Emperor’s Jade Seal, and even acquire the Bull Demon King.

“Let’s eat the buffed dishes that the Food God has made.”

Grin—

Henry’s hideous smile was so wide that his lips seemed to touch his ears.

***

The Fake Sun Wukong was sitting on his throne and stroking the Ruyi Jingu Bang on his shoulder. He said, “Human beings are truly stupid.”

He was aware of Henry’s plans. Henry might not know about it but the Fake Sun Wukong had another special skill called ‘Truths and Lies’. After seeing through his plans, the Fake Sun Wukong planned to wipe out Henry and his gang the moment they came back to his cave.

‘It seems like they have found a new prey. Very well, I can kill him together with them.’

An hour later.

“…???”

The Fake Sun Wukong could not hide his bewildered expression. It was because Henry, the man he introduced as ‘Food God’, and even his comrades, all sat together and looked at the prepared meals.

And Minhyuk, who watched everyone like that, hid the deep smile on his face.

1. An epithet referring to the Tripitaka ☜