Chapter 1213

Chapter 1213

The caterpillar, who had lived and struggled desperately, fell asleep once the darkness enclosed it. As he slowly lost consciousness, he thought that he should wait for the arrival of his eternal rest.

At that moment, a pair of wings stretched from the caterpillar’s back. The caterpillar turned into a pupa and finally bloomed into a butterfly. The end that it was waiting for was not the end but the actual beginning.

Minhyuk smiled faintly as he watched the little butterfly spread its wings and fly into the sky. Not long after, he woke up from his dreams. The feelings he had experienced in the dream lingered in his heart for a long time.

As he recalled the contents of his dreams, he finally realized that there was something strange in the notifications.

[The cooking process of the final Pillar Ingredient is much more special.]

[You need to show proof.]

At this moment, he had no idea what it meant.

Then, the world message began to resonate everywhere.

[Player Minhyuk has reached the end of his class. He has reached the Pinnacle of his class.]

[The end of the path that he has reached is not the end but a new beginning.]

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

[His class is closely related to the class: Chef.]

[Many people have doubts regarding the one who has reached the end of his class!]

It was more appropriate to use the word “deny” instead of “doubt.” Thanks to the system set by Joy Co. Ltd., everyone could now see those notifications.

[You can cook with all the people who doubt you.]

[However, you can only do that with people related to chefs and cooking.]

[A quest window will appear to everyone related to chefs and cooking.]

A quest window immediately appeared in front of Minhyuk.

[

Class Quest

: Proving your Worth.]

Rank

: Class

Requirements

: The One who Collected All of the Pillar Ingredients.

Rewards

: Proof and Linked Quest.

Penalty for Failure

: You will not be able to receive the final linked quest forever.

Description

: Win against all people who doubt your qualifications as someone who has reached the end of your class. The competition’s cooking process will be revealed tomorrow at noon. It will take place at Beagle Grounds.

Minhyuk nodded after checking the contents of the quest. Then, he checked the description of the final Pillar Ingredient.

(

Pillar’s Chicken

)

Ingredient Grade

: Pillar

Special Abilities

:

•You will receive a 28% increase in DEX and a 10% increase in Will.

•Your EXP Acquisition Rate will permanently increase by 8%.

•Your attack and defensive power will increase by 8% when fighting against monsters related to the sky.

•The cooking process for this ingredient is more difficult and trickier than cooking a God-grade ingredient.

•Passive Skill: Blazing Will

Description

: The Pillar Chicken represents the sky. According to myths, when the Pillar Chicken was still alive, its flames were so hot that it could even melt the Phoenix. It is challenging to cook the Pillar Chicken.

Warning! You have to be careful; the Pillar Chicken can take away something from the one cooking it!

The Pillar Chicken was a non-combat special ingredient. Why was that the case? Because DEX was something that only non-combat class players could have. As for Will, it was a special stat that would appear in players with high DEX who often repeated their tasks.

Furthermore, the increase in attack and defensive power, two stats related to combat, was much lower than others. However, the one thing that surprised Minhyuk was that the ingredient included a skill. Cooking ingredients that innately had skills were scarce. Most of the time, these skills were once possessed by the existence that the ingredient once was when it was still alive.

‘I still can’t check the effects.’

Minhyuk smacked his lips in regret. Regardless, he soon reigned it in and thought of another thing.

‘It can take something away?’

If it was just as he imagined it to be, then it meant the ingredient could permanently destroy something that its opponent possessed.

‘Anyway, I will be able to check it tomorrow.’

Minhyuk was looking forward to what would happen tomorrow.

***

There were various non-combat classes in Athenae. Yet, only three percent of the population had non-combat classes, not including priests. Players chose the blacksmith class the most, followed immediately by the chef class.

In the entire Athenae, more than fifty million players had chosen to take the chef class. A variety of people chose this class. Among them were restaurant owners, master craftsmen who had cooked and perfected a single dish for decades, aspiring chefs who dreamt of becoming true chefs one day, and many more.

All of these chefs received a notification.

[

Class Quest

: Cooking the Pillar Ingredient.]

Rank

: Class

Requirements

: A chef or anyone related to a chef.

Rewards

: Your level will increase by 30; You will receive 100 God-grade ingredients.

Penalty for Failure

: Your DEX will decrease by 1.

Description

: Right now, the Food God has reached the pinnacle of his class. Some chefs do not want to accept this fact. You can confirm if he’s genuinely worthy by cooking the Pillar Ingredient yourself. In case of failure, your DEX will decrease by 1. The deducted DEX from those who accept this challenge will be credited to the Food God to some extent.

A huge commotion broke out among the chefs. Of course, the main reason was that they could compete with Minhyuk in cooking, but there were many other reasons, too.

For the first time in a long time, the “Downcast Chefs” discussion on the community site was abuzz with activity.

[Is it true that we can cook the Pillar Ingredient?]

[Wow. I never imagined that I could cook a Pillar Ingredient in my life.]

[Kghhk. I have been able to cook many high-quality God-grade ingredients recently. I’m very confident in myself. Maybe I should challenge cooking the Pillar Ingredient? Maybe I can do it.]

[Out of the tens of millions of chefs, the top 5% have cooked a God-grade dish at least once, right?]

[Yep, yep. If you can’t do that, then you’re a f*cking idiot, right? My friend called and asked me if I’m a f*cking idiot...?]

Indeed. The top five percent of the chefs had been able to cook at least one God-grade dish. Although it was said that the level of the players of Athenae continued to grow by the day, the fact that it was difficult to make a God-grade item or dish remained the same. Nonetheless, it was true that dishes were relatively easier to make than sculptures, artifacts, paintings, or other crafts.

[Tbh, dishes will disappear after eating it, right? Compared to making God-rank artifacts, isn’t it much easier to make them? This all sounds like bullshit to me. If you can’t make God-grade dishes, then you might just be a f*cking idiot. Huh? My girlfriend just called me a f*cking idiot...?]

[Enough nerd! Lolololol.]

[Is making something out of a Pillar Ingredient challenging?]

[Idk. Nothing has been revealed so far, whether it’s artifact materials, cooking ingredients, or anything. We don’t know a thing, right?]

[Yep, yep. Nothing at all. Minhyuk had eaten two. But we weren’t able to see the cooking process.]

[It’s def going to be difficult. Maybe at least twice as hard as making dishes out of ordinary God-grade ingredients?]

[I think what the above commenter said is true.]

[+22222]

[+33333333]

[This should be right.]

[Woah. It’s at least twice as hard? Tbh, I think a lot of people will be able to do it.]

[There should be a lot. The Food God is related to the chef class, but it’s not really a chef class. It’s a Food God class. Besides, the chef class has a lot of cooking-related skills, right?]

[Even if you can’t cook, once you change to the chef class, your cooking will at least be on par with your mom’s cooking.]

[But my mom can’t cook...]

[Anyway, most of the chefs’ focus is on their cooking skills. On the other hand, the Food God’s skills are definitely much more focused on his eating skills.]

Many people acknowledge that Minhyuk was an outstanding chef. However, something else stood out.

[The Food God has Everyone’s Happiness, Overlapping Delight, and even his ability to increase his stats by eating, which was only available in the past. Of course, we also know that the Food God has several cooking skills. But tbh, we don’t know how it compares to the skills of real chefs. In the end, his class is related to eating. Ofc, this does not mean we’re ignoring the Food God’s skills. What I’m trying to say here is that there’s a high chance that one of us will successfully cook the Pillar Ingredient.]

[We have tens of millions of people here. There should be at least one who can do it, right?]

[We have the God of Cooking’s Descendant, the Twilight Chef Black, and also the top 100 chefs in the Athenae rankings. From what I heard, they have all cooked at least 100 God-grade dishes by themselves. So, it might really be possible.]

[There’s just one problem.]

[Whut?]

[Those who have tackled God-grade ingredients should already know this, but... the ingredients will attack the chefs.]

[Ah... that’s right...]

[If the ingredient is Pillar-grade, then the ingredient is definitely stronger. I don’t think it will be easy to endure its attacks.]

[Many strong chefs have ridiculously high STM and STR, right? There’s also quite a lot with high defensive powers, too.]

The chefs all knew their shortcomings. That was why it was considered common knowledge for them to take HP-boosting potions and wear artifacts and armor with high defensive power before cooking a God-grade ingredient.

[Agreed. I don’t think it will be easy for the chefs to endure those attacks. Hmm... Maybe the God of Cooking’s Descendant knows something?]

Merlo, the God of Cooking’s Descendant, was a chef who could make God-grade dishes with buff abilities that were said to be on par with Minhyuk’s. The buff abilities of the Food God were said to be close to being cheat-like. However, many said his cooking skills matched the God of Cooking.

[Tada! Did someone call?]

The community was relatively small, so Merlo immediately appeared when his name was mentioned.

[Is there a way to succeed?]

[There is! There’s nothing in the quest that I received just now that says that we cannot receive help from others. But it doesn’t say that we can’t recruit the help of other classes. Bring some high-ranking priests with you tomorrow.]

[Oh!]

[Of course, we have to pay them ourselves. But considering that we would only have to pay them their fee and have a -1 in DEX, it will still be a profit to us. After all, we’ll be able to cook a Pillar Ingredient.]

The logic convinced everyone. After that, the discussions drifted. They discussed which players would join and which ones would not. Suddenly, one of the community users asked God of Cooking’s Descendant Merlo.

[Uhm. Merlo, how many priests will you bring tomorrow?]

The priests’ healing was not unlimited.

Soon after, Merlo gave his answer.

[Enough.]

***

The next day, at Beagle Grounds...

Chef Merlo appeared with fifty priests in tow.

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

There were no less than twelve million chefs who had gathered, and every single one of them was looking at Merlo in confusion. Fifty priests was what Merlo had deemed to be “enough.”

‘The God of Cooking told me that the Pillar Ingredient is difficult to deal with.’

The God of Cooking also told Merlo this.

‘I can’t tell who has the upper hand between you.’

Merlo’s abilities as an individual chef were truly outstanding. However, the God of Cooking had not checked and was not sure about Minhyuk’s current personal skills.

Players and NPCs from empires, kingdoms, and even other continents had gathered in the Beagle Grounds. All twelve million chefs waited until Minhyuk appeared before them.

Minhyuk had accepted all their challenges, so he was given a platform so that everyone could see him.

When he appeared, he went up and stood on the platform. Minhyuk took a shaky breath. It seemed like he was a bit nervous.

Everyone waited until noon. After all, the cooking process would be revealed during that time.

Merlo looked around.

“I have been cooking persistently in Athenae. I’m sure I can do it to some extent.”

“I have cooked more than 120 God-grade dishes. I’m sure I can cook this dish too.”

Despite not knowing the cooking process or the dangers accompanying the Pillar Ingredient, everyone came here confident. Many master craftsmen wore chef suits with high defensive power and had priests by their sides. Some, like Merlo, had brought fifty people with them. One noble chef from an empire had brought an entourage of a hundred people.

Meanwhile, the global community sites were buzzing with activity. At 11:59 a.m., the commentators began to shout.

[The time to cook the Pillar Ingredient has arrived!]

[I can see hundreds of world-renowned chefs from reality among the people present.]

[More than 90% of the top 1,000 of Athenae’s Global Chef Rankings have also participated in this challenge.]

[All of them acknowledge the Food God’s strength.]

[However, they can’t accept that Minhyuk will be able to obtain the name Pinnacle Chef just because he collected all three Pillar Ingredients and ate them.]

[We can see that many chefs came here fully prepared. Because of this, many of our experts believe that a dozen chefs can successfully cook the Pillar Ingredient.]

[Even though we don’t know anything about it, it's still an ingredient at the end of the day.]

[The countdown is now starting.]

[Five.]

[Four.]

[Three.]

[Two.]

Everyone waited with bated breaths. Minhyuk stood on the platform, looked at the twelve million chefs, and waited for everything to start.

[The Food God’s Proof of Qualifications will now begin.]

[In the case of death, players will not receive forced logout penalties. NPCs will also be revived in their nations.]

[However, if you are forced to log out, your DEX will decrease by 1.]

[Challengers can pair up in groups of 10, 100, and 1,000.]

[However, this is subject to the Food God’s approval.]

[Anyone who cooks the Pillar Ingredient to 50% can obtain 100 DEX and 500 REP.]

[The competition to be recognized as the Greatest Chef will now begin.]

Mocking voices immediately rang all over the place. There were a lot of people here who had devoted their lives to cooking. They had cooked for decades, but none of them were called the best. Yet, one of them could now be called the greatest just by cooking a Pillar Ingredient.

None of the people present knew what the Pillar Ingredient was. They did not even know how heinous the difficulty of cooking such an ingredient was or what it could do.

[You have acquired the Pillar Chicken Owned by the Food God.]

[If you succeed in cooking this ingredient, this ingredient will be yours.]

[The cooking competition will start in ten seconds.]

As the countdown began, the chefs made their preparations. Some cleaned their kitchen knives, some took out their chopping boards, and some prepared their heals.

Between the twelve million chefs, the five million people they had brought along, and Minhyuk who was looking down on them—it was still undetermined as to who would take the title of the Greatest Chef.

[Four seconds.]

[Three seconds.]

Meanwhile, the viewers chatted amongst themselves. Some posted comments on their broadcasts, while others posted comments on community sites. However, most of them said the same thing.

[Two seconds.]

[Alright. Let’s Gooooooo!]

[Guys! Let’s gooooo!]

[Let’s show them who’s the best!]

[LET’S GOOOOOO!!!!]

The viewers joked around. As for Merlo, he looked up at Minhyuk, currently hailed as the Greatest Chef, as the countdown ended. Minhyuk was standing there calmly with no hint of arrogance or anything on his face.

A question floated in Merlo’s mind.

‘What kind of ingredient is the Pillar Ingredient?’

[One second.]

[LET’S GOOOOOOOOO!!!]

Merlo, as well as all the other chefs, grabbed the Pillar Chicken. When he touched it, his vision was covered with white flames.

Shwaaaaa!

At first, he thought that there was a white haze covering his vision.

[9.9 million out of the 12.13 million participants have either been forced to log out or died.]

“...”

Then Merlo finally saw the scene in front of him. White flames were burning all of the chefs around him, and the same was true for the priests who tried to cast heal on them.

The white flames spread like the wind and covered the entire venue. They devoured and burned 9.9 million challengers and the priests they had brought.

With just one touch, the challengers disappeared without a trace.

“...”

Merlo was rendered speechless by the scene in front of him. He looked up at Minhyuk and saw that he was already starting to cook. However, what shocked Merlo more was that Minhyuk was working with a nonchalant expression. It seemed that he had known that something like this would happen—as if the emergence of the ravaging white fire was a very natural part of working with the Pillar Ingredient.

One of the viewers shouting, “LET’S GOOOOO!!!” said...

[I guess the “Let’s go” is “Let’s go home”...?]