Chapter 105: Hungry Monsters

“...Phoenix eggs?”

“Yes. The phoenix is considered to be a noble monster in?Athenae. My father said that the Food God suddenly brought in these phoenix eggs one day. Then, he suddenly started to cook it on the spot.”

“Ho.”

“Then, he made this soy braised phoenix egg. He said that his descendants will one day come to eat this.”

Minhyuk looked down at the soy braised phoenix egg in his hands. The taste was definitely superb. ‘It’s so yummy that I can’t even describe its taste.’ He thought,?‘Did the Food God only eat food as delicious as this?’

Minhyuk was suddenly filled with a great sense of jealousy. However, he still quipped, “The phoenix eggs already taste this good, I wonder how much tastier the actual phoenix is?”

“Y…you really are the Food God.”

Any ordinary person would have screamed?‘No?! I ate the eggs of a legendary monster?!’?once they learned of the truth, but the only thing that Minhyuk thought of, was that it was delicious!

Nevertheless, Boroto continued to tell his stories. He said, “I’ll tell you about the Food God’s legacy. The Food God had countless subordinates that followed him.”

The Food God’s subordinates! Minhyuk listened to him carefully while he continued to eat since this was an important story.

“They were all important friends of the Food God, however, they were also his loyal subordinates. Most of them were considered to be legendary figures that have dominated and reigned supreme in the entirety of the Asgan Continent. Some could order a million troops to move in a single command, there were also heroes who have fought and won against the Demon Army, there were also plenty of kings and emperors who ruled their own races. The Food God had entrusted some of them with the God's Dishes, some were even entrusted with clues on how to find cooking ingredients. All of them were entrusted with these, just so they could give these and inform the Food God’s future descendants.”

.

Minhyuk listened attentively as he ate.

“These dishes allow the Food God’s descendants exert incredible powers the moment they’re eaten. Also, from what I heard, the loyal friends and subordinates of the Food God also sealed their powers on these dishes upon his death. This was their way of expressing their longing for the Food God. And the first dish among the five God’s Dishes…”

Boroto looked at Minhyuk. Then, he continued to say, “...the only thing I know about that is that these Phoenix eggs are related to the first God’s Dish.”

“Related to the first dish?”

“Yes. I don’t know which subordinate sealed their power in the first dish though. But, if you eat God’s Dishes, you will be able to fill in the abilities that you lack from being a Food God.”

“Abilities that I lack...”

Something flashed through Minhyuk’s head. He thought,?‘Don’t tell me...?!’

The Food God’s Cooking and Ingredient Tracking skill had not been able to move past the ‘not yet leveled up’ category. Was that the hint?

“Please go to Salov Land located in front of here. You will be able to find the hint for the first dish if you go there.”

[Class Quest: Go to the Salov Land.]

Rank: ?

Requirements: Level 150

Rewards: 300,000 EXP

Penalty for Failure: Unable to progress further in the Food God’s Legacy.

Description: That was all of what Boroto knew. You must go to the Salov Land to find the hint!

Minhyuk was somewhat confused. He thought, ?‘What do I need to find? If I go there without knowing anything, can I even find the hint?’

It was quite vague and mysterious but Minhyuk still nodded and accepted the quest. Then, Boroto raised his doubts. He said, “But, Food God.”

“Yes?”

Just before Minhyuk ate his last spoonful, Boroto asked, “Where is your apostle?”

“Apostle?”

“...?”

Boroto tilted his head in confusion. According to the legends, the Food God had the best chef under his command and he would always take him along through his journeys. And this man, the apostle, was also a man with great power. Boroto tried to remember the words that his father told him before. He said, “It’s the Twilight Chef.”

“...?”

Minhyuk was confused. This was the first time that he heard about this. He asked, “What kind of work does the apostle do?”

“He did a lot of different things from the Food God. He’s good at everything. He could use his farming skills to grow new crops, dig up minerals in the mines and even track ingredients.”

As Minhyuk continued to listen, he thought that these things were strangely familiar. He asked, “Is that what the legends say?”

When he thought about it, Len did not give him any quest. However, he was still able to master abilities related to dexterity and even receive an artifact. Was that supposed to be originally for that guy?

“I already have all those abilities. And, I prefer not having any apostles.”

“H…how come? The apostle is like your right hand man. He’s the one that should take care of all of your troubles.”

Minhyuk clarified his stance indignantly. He said, “I’m already short on food to eat and you still expect me to take in another mouth to feed?”

“...”

“...?”

Boroto thought that there was no other person that was suited to be the Food God except for this person in front of him. After Minhyuk ate the last spoonful of the soy braised phoenix egg, he heard some notifications.

[You have eaten a dish made by the Food God.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[Your Fire Resistance has increased by 30%.]

[Your affinity with the Fire Elemental Spirits has sharply increased.]

“Huh...?”

Minhyuk was shocked. His EXP increased just by eating something. When he thought about it, he realized that this was the first time that he had eaten a dish that was made by the Food God. Perhaps his EXP would increase every time he ate a dish that the Food God made personally. Minhyuk also received a huge boost in his power, with an additional 30% in his fire resistance. This was the same as saying that he would be able to reduce the damage he took from fire-attribute monsters by 30%. Minhyuk’s affinity with the fire elemental spirits had also increased. This was a great boost considering that Minhyuk already had a high increase in his spirit affinity from the legendary frying pan. It meant that he already had a high degree of friendship with any spirit, and now, especially with fire elemental spirits. After he finished chatting and talking with Boroto, Minhyuk quickly went to the Salov Land.

***

After chatting with Boroto, Minhyuk went out and continued to eat his smoked duck. This smoked duck was none other than the Golden Duck that he hunted with Rovan in Shrieking Hills. Once he finished all of the smoked duck, he heard these notifications.

[Food God’s True Worth.]

[You can acquire a random skill from the Golden Duck.]

[Would you like to acquire it?]

The golden duck was an epic monster that had plenty of magical skills in its arsenal. Minhyuk tried to randomly acquire a skill.

[You are attempting to randomly acquire a skill.]

[Acquisition rate 11%... 22%..... 36%... 68%... 0%...]

[You have failed to acquire a skill.]

Minhyuk was quite disappointed that he failed to acquire a skill from the Golden Duck.

Before realizing it, he had arrived at the Salov Land whilst sporting a face full of regret. The monsters that resided in the Salov Land could easily be described as… Giant spiders! From what Minhyuk read, the monsters in Salov were Level 200 monsters. If anyone compared his level to those of the monsters, they would know that there was an extremely huge gap between them. Minhyuk surveyed his surroundings and saw that the Salov Land was teeming with cliffs.

‘This hunting ground is really bad...’?Minhyuk thought. It was because Minhyuk did not want to eat spiders!

Click, click━

Click, click, click, click━

Minhyuk turned to where the sound was coming from and saw a giant spider crawling down from one of the cliffs that surrounded Salov. The Salov Spider’s eyes were glinting sharply as it quickly approached Minhyuk.

[Ellie’s Swordsmanship.]

[All stats will have a 17% increase for 6 minutes.]

[Your Evasion Rate has increased by +30%.]

[Your Critical Hit Rate has increased by +30%.]

The effect of the title Battlefield’s Ruler was no longer available to Minhyuk. After all, it was an effect that could only be used when the player was below Level 150. After triggering his skill, Minhyuk narrowed the distance between him and the spider. Seeing this, the Salov Spider quickly spewed out a dense amount of threads from its body.

[Salov’s Spiderweb.]

[Robust spiderwebs that would not break easily.]

Minhyuk used Step to quickly dodge the spiderwebs aiming for him.

[Step.]

[You can instantly travel a distance of one meter twice allowing you to quickly narrow or widen your distance from your target.]

Minhyuk easily evaded the attack. He took a side step and rushed to stab the side of the Salov Spider that was as big as a one-ton truck.

[Sword of Fury]

[Additional 53% attack power for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is successful, it will be 83%.]

Spurt!

Green blood spurted out of the Salov Spider’s body the moment Minhyuk pulled his sword out. He quickly used Step again and dodged the incoming attacks, as he dashed in front of the spider.

Stab!

Bang!

Seeds suddenly fell down after Minhyuk successfully hunted the huge Salov Spider that tried to ambush him.

‘Huh? What are these seeds?’?Minhyuk thought, tilting his head as he acquired the drops.

[You have acquired 1,034 gold.]

[You have acquired Unknown Seeds.]

(Unknown Seeds)

Material Grade: ?

Special Abilities: ?

Description: An unidentified seed.

Minhyuk placed the seeds in the inventory despite his confusion. He quickly analyzed his situation. Since the Salov Spiders were easy to deal with, he wanted to hunt them immediately. So, he used Gryphon’s Cry.

Bbiiiiiiiiii!

[Gryphon’s Cry]

[You have a 70~80% chance of attracting the attention of all the monsters within a 20-meter radius.]

Salov Spiders started to flock to where Minhyuk was. They came from all over the place, some came from the cracks of the cliffs, some from under rocks, and some from other places. The number that he was able to attract was by no means small. Only one thing was on Minhyuk's mind. If he reached Level 200, then he would be able to go to the beach. So, he thought that it was not too bad to level up while he tried to find a hint about the first God’s Dish.

[Rampant Sword.]

[A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 6 seconds.]

Minhyuk used his Rampant Sword against the swarm of Salov Spiders.

[You have dealt a critical strike.]

Spuuuuurt!

“Kkiiiiiiiiieeeeee!”

[You have dealt a critical strike.]

Spurt!

“Kkiiii!”

[You have successfully evaded.]

[You have leveled up.]

There were times when the attacks of the Salov Spiders would hit Minhyuk. However, whenever he used Ellie’s Swordsmanship, he could ignore an attack once or twice depending on his evasion rate. Whenever he killed a Salov Spider, a fountain of green blood would always spurt out! Additionally, there would always be seeds falling as drops.

[You have acquired 1,011 gold.]

[You have acquired Unknown Seeds.]

[You have acquired 1,514 gold.]

[You have acquired Unknown Seeds.]

[You have acquired Salov’s Spiderweb]

“Hmm...” Minhyuk hummed. He still could not make heads or tails about the seeds. So, he decided to check?Athenae’s?official website. Unlike other virtual reality games, information was readily available in Athenae in the form of their official website. The website could easily be accessed once any battle was done, or when the player was idle.

[Salov. Unknown Seeds.]

[No content found.]

“...Uhm?”

Minhyuk was quite taken aback. This was the first time that his search had resulted in nothing. The website simply showed that there was no content related to this search word. This meant that the unknown seeds were items that would generally not appear. To put it simply, there was a high possibility that this was an item that was related to his quest. Minhyuk thought that he could find out more about it once he hunted a few more of the spiders.

***

Puhaaaaa!

Six hours had already passed! Minhyuk had acquired 200 Unknown Seeds after continuously hunting Salov Spiders. During the process, Minhyuk was able to increase his level by ten. After all, he was a Level 150 player hunting monsters that were 50 levels higher than him. It was only natural that his speed would rise at an overwhelming speed. Then…

“Huh?”

…An enticing smell tickled Minhyuk’s nose. A sweet and savory smell was floating around from somewhere. Minhyuk’s nose twitched as he moved to follow the tasty smell. The smell guided Minhyuk towards a cave somewhere behind one of the cliffs.

“A delicious smell...!”

The smell was like… like the smell of chicken when one was in an elevator! Nevertheless, it was a smell that was rousing Minhyuk’s appetite, even if he could not pinpoint exactly what it was. The moment Minhyuk entered the cave, he felt that there was something wrong. The smell immediately disappeared when he stepped inside the cave. He was also able to discover a light that was gleaming lightly at the opposite end of the entrance of the cave.

“...What?”

The smell suddenly disappeared. It was as though it was guiding him towards this place.

‘Perhaps the hint is in here?’

He slowly moved towards the light, one step at a time. Once he reached that place, a shocking sight unfolded in front of him.

“Th, this is...?” Minhyuk said in shock. A vast expanse of land was laid out before him. And on this land were monsters with nothing but bones on them.

Piiiiiiiiiiiii!

At that moment, a loud shriek came from somewhere. Minhyuk turned his head towards the direction where the sound came from. He saw a huge bird. It was a giant firebird with a body that was covered with blazing flames! It was a phoenix!

[Named monster.]

[You are the first to discover a legendary monster, the Phoenix Lord.]

[You have gained 30 REP.]

It was not just an ordinary phoenix, it was the king of phoenixes! The phoenix gently and unhurriedly sat in front of Minhyuk. Then, it looked at him closely. ?This was the legendary monster, the Phoenix Lord. Just as it looked at Minhyuk curiously, he was also looking at it closely. Then, he slowly opened his mouth and said, “Yummy...”