Leveling Up Through Eating

“He’s making fun of us, huh!”

“He gave us this food just to poke fun at us!”

“I believe this is only worth 800 gold in the human world.”

Children in the human world would receive pocket money worth more than 800 gold in a day.

One of the archangels wanted to throw the silver pots away, indicating their fury at the next-generation Battle God. However, he stopped in his tracks when he took a whiff.

“It smells so good.”

Indeed, that was certainly the case.

“I can’t believe a trivial and insignificant human dish can smell like this. Come to think of it; we have never tried this chapagetti.”

Although he did not want to admit it out loud, fantasizing about the dish\'s aroma was already a silent admission that he wanted a taste. He was truly curious about this dish.

“Even though the food humans make is garbage, it wouldn’t hurt to try and get a taste, right?”

The other archangels seemed to agree with this sentiment.

“Perhaps we would be reminded of the gap between Heaven and humans after eating this trashy human food.”

They wanted to prove how excellent Heaven was and how delicious the food that the heavenly dwellers ate compared to the human world.

Michael\'s expression was uncomfortable as he grabbed a fork and began to mix the dish covered in a glossy black sauce.

Swoosh, woosh–

The shine of the sauce was completely different from that of the pasta. Michael moved elegantly, rolling his fork to wrap the noodles around before taking a graceful bite. His expression grew ugly when he put the food in his mouth as if he had eaten something he should not have.

But an unknown flavor coated his mouth when he finally chewed the noodles.

The taste was both sweet and savory. This dish, chapagetti, was not made simply by mixing the noodles and the prepared sauce. It was stir-fried once, allowing the sauce and the seasonings to seep into the noodles and perfectly coat each strand.

This time, Michael opted for a bigger bite. When he placed it in his mouth, the divine harmony from the musical instruments in the hands of countless baby angels echoed in his head.

Then, without hesitation, Michael began to devour the flavorful and divine dish before him. Of course, he also tried the kimchi that Minhyuk had handed him.

Crunch, crunch–

The kimchi had a great texture and a flavor that easily washed away the greasy aftertaste left behind by the chapagetti. After finishing the entire pot hurriedly, Michael wiped his mouth gracefully and smiled.

‘There’s also an unknown yet enticing sweetness at the end.’

Then, Michael received a notification that he had consumed an epic-grade dish. Of course, the other archangels, who ate simultaneously as him, received the same notification.

“So, he did not disregard us. To prepare such a dish, he must have been considerate of us.”

Their evaluation of Minhyuk changed in an instant.

“It’s not easy to put in the power of an epic in this simple bowl of chapagetti. We all know that low-grade ingredients will only make low-grade dishes. There must be some pretty outstanding ingredients in this dish.”

In truth, Minhyuk bought the ingredients at a discount because they were in a bundle.

“I believe this was made by putting in an effort. He might even have put much of his heart and soul into making this. It seems like he still has a conscience. Maybe he treated us to a pot of chapagetti because he felt he had required too much compensation from us.”

The fact was that Minhyuk only paid around 400 gold per bag of chapagetti. Nonetheless, the angels continued to discuss heartily.

“I guess he wasn’t that senseless.”

“When I ate the first bite, this sweet and mysterious flavor invaded my mouth. By the end, that sweet note grew deeper and more flavorful. I wonder what kind of precious ingredient he put inside that dish?”

It was all because of Minhyuk’s precious and strengthened Sea Honey.

The archangels were left thinking of Minhyuk again because of a pot of chapagetti worth 400 gold.

***

The entire world was buzzing because they could vote for the new Pillar Candidate themselves!

After the notification about the Advanced Polling was released, a video was posted on Athenae’s official homepage. The video briefly described the candidates one after another. Of course, this video was also available to the players once they logged into the game.

Each of the candidates appeared in front of the eyes of the players.

The space was torn open in front of the empty fields. Then, a handsome middle-aged man with a head full of white hair walked out. One side was filled with raging lightning and thunder while another was with heavy rain. There was even a side enveloped by an overwhelming snowstorm.

A description appeared above the man as he slowly walked through the empty field.

[Thunder, lightning, rain, snow, torrential downpours, heavy snow, cold waves, heat waves, and many more. He is the one who rules them all.]

[First Candidate: Master of Nature Verodun.]

The scene panned to the next candidate right away.

A turtle-type Named Monster could be seen roaring wildly. But right in front of it was the figure of a man swinging the sword by his side. With the swing of his sword, a light flashed, and an elf appeared. Right next to the elf was an orc, a werewolf, and even a member of the dragon race. A different race would appear with every swing of the man’s sword. But what was shocking was that all of the races present followed the man’s orders and immediately charged toward the monster he was pointing at with his sword.

[Elf, orc, werewolf, dragon race, fairy race. He is the one who has the power to lead and command dozens of races.]

[Second Candidate: King of Races Reikan.]

Just like that, the video introduced the candidates one after another.

[Third Candidate: God of Assassins Boleyn.]

[Fourth Candidate:...]

[Fifth Candidate:...]

Then, another video appeared. This time, it showed the figure of a woman standing in front of the Great Luvien Empire with her sword stretched out in front of her and her red hair fluttering behind her. Armies with symbols representing their kingdoms and empires gathered around her.

The woman shouted, ‘Charge!!!’

[Ninth Candidate: Continental Emperor Ellie.]

Finally, the last video appeared.

A man standing 185 centimeters could be seen striking the dry and arid land with his pickaxe. On the upper left side of the video, the word “One Day” appeared. The day quickly bled into the night, and ass a new day appeared, the word on top of the video changed.

Two Days. Three Days.

Even though the crops started to grow around him, the man continued to strike the land with his pickaxe. After around a week, the man stopped and took out a huge trailer.

Beeeeeeeeeep–!

Thump, thump, thump–!

Blazing flames shot out from within the trailer, and smoke billowed through its chimney, making it look menacing. The man climbed inside the trailer and began to cook the crops that he grew himself. As the man cooked, a sentence appeared in front of all of the viewers.

[Tenth Candidate: Pillar of Gourmands Minhyuk.]

Then, the screen turned dark. After a few beats, white letters began to appear in front of everyone once again.

[The Advanced Polls have started.]

[You must cast your first vote for the Advanced Polls within these two days.]

[You can cast your second vote by the last day of the voting period.]

[If the first vote cast is different from the second vote, the second vote will be taken into consideration.]

Voting started all over the world.

***

The start of the Advanced Polling’s voting period coincided with the “Catastrophe Day.” The Catastrophe Day was said to be a day where all kinds of catastrophes wreaked havoc in the entire continent and was something that happened every fifty years.

According to the records, many people had died when this event first occurred. However, the disasters had appeared at the same time for 500 years. This gave mankind the leeway to prepare for it in advance. Because of that, the damage that mankind received had been reduced by 4% compared to when it first appeared.

Anyway, these disasters and catastrophes were now happening around the world. Just like that, heavy rain, strong gusts of winds, lightning and thunder had started to engulf the entire world of Athenae. There was even a tornado waiting to devour everything and anything in its path.

The players had already received an evacuation order in the form of a notification while each nation had deployed their most outstanding mages and construction workers to prepare for the advent of the catastrophic day.

Back in the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Minhyuk was sitting in the conference hall while countless overwhelming catastrophes were buffeting the entire world of Athenae. The catastrophes and disasters had not yet arrived in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

Before that, there was something far more important that they had to discuss.

“Ranked 9th in the polls…”

By the second day after the announcement of the start of the voting period, everyone would have already finished casting their first vote.

Three hours after the start of the Advanced Polls, Minhyuk could see that he was only ranked 9th in the polls.

[Advanced Polls]

Current Voter Turnout: 29.8%

1st place: Master of Nature Verodun. Percentage: 24.1%

2nd place: Pillar of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 23.9%

3rd place:...

4th place:...

9th place: Pillar of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 2%

10th place: Continental Emperor Ellie. Percentage. 1.9%

Perhaps it was only natural.

In most elections and polls, the first and second place would usually have the highest number of votes. They were the most popular even though there were countless other candidates to choose from. Because of that, the other candidates would have significantly lower votes.

Haze said, “The people of South Korea, the country where Your Majesty belongs, have virtually no way to vote for you.”

This was the truth.

The heat and discussion about this matter was already on par with the World Cup. After all, even though it was only a game, Athenae was still world-class. In fact, the ratings brought by the Athenae Olympics were already a bit higher than the ratings brought by the World Cup before. There was a high chance that the people of Korea would vote for Minhyuk. After all, he was their pride.

Athenae made sure to prevent that from happening.

If they chose to vote for Minhyuk, they would suffer from a 40% drop in EXP. Of course, if Minhyuk won first place in the Advanced Polls, they would be able to receive a One-level Level Up potion. The question was: would Minhyuk even be able to win first place? It was basically impossible.

Minhyuk smiled bitterly at his ranking and at Ellie’s ranking. This was because she was ranked tenth, right below him.

“After the disasters pass, the candidates will definitely become more active.”

“Yes, we expect that to happen. Your Majesty, we should also begin our preparations. The disasters and catastrophes will strike the Asgan Continent in six hours or so. And it will strike the Beyond the Heavens Empire in exactly six hours and forty seven minutes.”

Basically, Haze was reminding him to leave tomorrow’s worry till later. The Beyond the Heavens Empire had to first prepare to stop the disasters and catastrophes and lessen the damage that they would receive.

At that moment, a smile appeared on Minhyuk’s face. “Starting today, I will start working on increasing my votes.”

“Huh?” Haze asked dumbfoundedly.

Even the other guild members were looking at Minhyuk in confusion. All of the candidates were busy trying to prepare for that tomorrow. Everyone else determined that any activity and promotions would be rendered ineffective today. The entire world was busy dealing with disasters and catastrophes today.

This was also the reason why Master of Nature Verodun had an overwhelming number of votes and was standing firmly at number one. Absurd as it might sound, it might just be that Master of Nature Verodun was the one who caused this disaster.

Most people saw this as “nature’s natural order.” Just like how sometimes there were good days and sometimes there were bad days, there were also days when disasters and catastrophes would come.

No one would stand up and blame someone because they were being flooded because the heavy rains would not stop. No one would also complain that a lot of things were being frozen by a sudden bout of cold spell. All they could do was to curse and resent the sky.

Since Verodun could create such catastrophes that could envelop and devour the entire world, the players decided to vote for him.

“In the first place, there is no distinction between good and evil when it comes to becoming a Disaster.”

There was a reason for this. It was just like how Helenia and Obren became Pillars and how the rotten and dirty Pope Kronad became one as well. As long as they could display the greatest and most outstanding power, they would be able to win this Advanced Polls.

“The Beyond the Heavens Empire’s army does not need to prepare for the disasters.”

“Y-your Majesty?!”

“Minhyuk, what nonsense are you saying?”

“We’re not going to prepare anything?”

The reason why each of the kingdoms and empires suffered minimal damages in the past was because they followed a systematic approach and made sure to prepare well in advance. But Minhyuk was saying that they did not need to prepare for it? If they did not prepare, then the Beyond the Heavens Empire would definitely suffer.

“You… have you gone crazy?” Locke asked, his expression filled with doubt and confusion as he looked at Minhyuk.

Then, Minhyuk said, “Guys, what if…” He looked at their bewildered expressions and continued, “...our Beyond the Heavens Empire deflects all of the disasters and catastrophes coming our way? What would happen then?”

“...?”

“...?”

His words were completely absurd and incomprehensible. Even so, they were still able to come up with an answer to that question.

Haze opened her mouth and said, “If the disaster fails to do anything to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then even if it’s not related to His Majesty being a Pillar of the Gourmands, this will have a huge impact on his influence. His Majesty Minhyuk will definitely win quite a lot of votes if this happens.”

Minhyuk smiled. Just in time, someone knocked on the door and entered. This person was someone that was completely unfamiliar to everyone present.

Minhyuk said, “What if we destroy and extinguish a portion of those disasters?”

Haze was already left in awe just by thinking about that scenario. Then, with a face that reflected her thoughts, she said, “The number one in the Advanced Polls will definitely be yours, Your Majesty.”