Chapter 136: Legendary Dish

Genie and Khan were both sporting the same disappointed looks on their faces.

“The dungeon will close tomorrow.”

“I know…?Phew. We’ve been working hard for quite a long time.”

Unfortunately, the dungeon that they were challenging would close tomorrow. It took a longer time than expected for them to get the buffed dish, because they wanted to gather all of the ingredients that Minhyuk had listed. Minhyuk also agreed with Genie and Khan’s view. If they gathered the best ingredients and ate the dish made from these ingredients, they would be able to boost the power and strength of the guild for quite some time.

However, their biggest problem was gathering all the ingredients together. It would take a lot of time to comb through the auction house to search for the ingredients. Most of the time, they would even need to hunt the ingredients themselves.

“Well, we’re still lucky that I will be able to eat it today,” Locke said. After struggling a lot, Locke was able to find all of the ingredients, except for one. However, it was still debatable whether a single buff increase could help them win the match against the boss monster. Of course, they did not think that way because they doubted Minhyuk’s craftsmanship. However, Minhyuk himself had told them that the buffs were random and could only be inspected upon finalizing the dish.

“I feel a bit hotter than normal.”

“Me too...”

It was all because of the intense heat of the sun which led to Valkyrie Kingdom being in a state of crisis!

Genie gnashed her teeth in anger and said, “Those Iris bastards...!”

Legend Guild was aware. According to the people present, the thief player was forced to log out after he vomited blood and instantly collapsed from a hit from Goddess Juis. Around the same time, Iris Guild had suddenly declared their intent to attack the dungeon and quell the disaster. It was literally a show. A huge show!

They even announced it not too long ago. The dungeon that they were supposed to clear was an SS-ranked dungeon. In addition, this was the very first SS-ranked quest that had been discovered in the country. It was only natural that people would flock and be enthusiastic about such a quest. Especially since the first SS-ranked quest was going to be broadcasted live in Dungeon Attack Live. It was like they had hit the jackpot. Once they succeeded, they would be hailed as heroes.

“It seems that they want to drive us away from here...”

It was a relief that King Varen and the citizens of Valkyrie Kingdom were convinced that it was not because?of Legend?Guild. They had saved King Varen and their image as ‘heroes’ was already embedded deep in their hearts. The two of them approached Minhyuk and Locke. However, before they could even greet them, they saw Locke trembling in excitement as he ran up to Minhyuk and gave him a big hug.

“I love you Minhyuk! Love you!”

Locke even tried to imprint a sloppy kiss on Minhyuk’s face. Minhyuk, on the other hand…

“Aaaaaack! Stop, no, stop! Waaaaah!”

…really hated his enthusiasm.

***

Locke went looking around for ingredients without resting. However, try as he might, he could not find the last ingredient, ‘Dragon King’s Water Parsley’. They were sure that it was something that could be found in the Dragon King’s Sea, but no other player had ever gone there. In the end, they had concluded that it would take a lot of time for them to get the Dragon King’s Water Parsley.

Locke quickly handed the ingredients to Minhyuk.

“Please take good care of me, Minhyuk.”

“Delicious steamed monkfish! Monkfish, monkfish!”

“So you will make it well? Please give me that great buff effect too! Crow had been yapping so hard about his food that my stomach had started grumbling. It’s killing me already!”

“Yeah. Beanie? Isn’t it delicious?”

“Oooooink? Oink!”

The baby pig, Beanie, nodded fiercely as he perched himself on Minhyuk’s shoulder.

‘I think you’ll make it well because you want to eat instead of giving me my buff,’?Locke thought, pouting cutely to try and convince Minhyuk to give him a higher buff. All it did was make himself look uglier than usual.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk smiled happily as he stared at the ingredients for the steamed monkfish. The quality of the ingredients that they had brought for him had improved ever since he made the excellent buffed dish for Crow. This meant that the taste of the dish would also improve. In other words, Minhyuk could just sit still and cook, and he would still be able to eat something delicious.

‘Did my satisfaction level go up when I cooked earlier?’

When Crow ate the dish, he confirmed that his satisfaction level had increased by 2%. This was because Crow was a high-leveled player. It was a bit lower than when King Varen ate his dish but, it was still considered high. Minhyuk began to cook the steamed monkfish.

‘Usually, I always find this thing to be regrettable whenever I eat steamed monkfish.’

It was the bean sprouts. Of course, bean sprouts were a good combination for steamed monkfish. However, most people who loved to eat steamed monkfish would always doubt their eyes. They always wondered whether they bought steamed bean sprouts or steamed monkfish.

Minhyuk smiled as he talked to Beanie. He said, “Beans. I’m going to cut down on the bean sprouts and add more water parsley in this steamed monkfish.”

“Oink!”

It was like Beanie was saying:?‘You really know how to eat! Oink!’. Beanie even did a little jig, as if it was extremely happy with what he said.

If Minhyuk followed the recipe creation, then everything would work well, but if he made changes and tried to be original, he might also get better results. Once he started cooking, he made sure to reduce the amount of bean sprouts and add more monkfish to the dish. He also added more of the tiny sea squirts. He was quite excited about these since sea squirts would always be overflowing with the sauce in every bite. In no time at all, Minhyuk was able to finish cooking the steamed monkfish.

The dish was filled with red sauce and bean sprouts. Below these, there was plenty of monkfish. He even made sure to add 1.5 times the amount of monkfish than what was usually served in stores. Just as he finished cooking the dish, a string of notifications rang out.

[You have completed a Steamed Monkfish.]

[Locke’s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

[The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

[Trance. It’s a dish that has your ‘soul’ poured into it.]

[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has become better.]

[Epic Grade.]

[You have gained 4 DEX.]

[You have gained 10 REP.]

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

[You have gained 1,000 AP.]

According to the original recipe, the expected rank of the dish was supposed to be somewhere between unique~legendary. However, since there was an ingredient missing, the rank of the dish was only limited to epic. Even so, it was the highest possible rank. The dish this time was epic-ranked, and he was even able to receive greater rewards. Compared to the unique-ranked dish that he had made before, he received an additional 2 for DEX, 6 for REP and 600 for the AP. It was a huge leap in the rewards!

“Kgghk... Epic will taste much more delicious, right?” Minhyuk said excitedly.

“Y…you’re done? Shall we check it?” Locke asked.

Minhyuk nodded as Locke moved to check the dish’s information.

(Steamed Monkfish)

Material Grade: S

Rank: Epic

Restrictions: Only Locke could have the buff effects.

Shelf Life: 20 days

Preservation Time: 22 days

Special Effects:

Crazy Priest’s Heal +3

?All of the Crazy Priest’s skills can be used as a regular healer’s skill.

Description: A dish made solely for Locke. The chef supplemented the usual disappointing side of the steamed monkfish using his own creativity. You will be able to enjoy plenty of monkfish in this dish.

“...Gasp?!”

Locke was extremely shocked. He had never been considered lucky all his life. So what if he was a good ranker? He could not even pick up a unique artifact that people could easily pick! He was so unlucky that he even pulled out the most shocking result in the golden treasure box, a measly 400 gold reward! Locke was so unlucky that he was even nicknamed as ‘Misfortunate Guy’ by everyone else.

This was one of the reasons why he was extremely nervous when he was gathering high ranked ingredients. He even thought…?‘What if I get a normal-ranked dish because of my unlucky nature?’. To be honest, he thought that it would be unbelievable if he were to receive a high rank for his buffed dish. However, he was proven wrong, as an epic-ranked dish was sitting perfectly in front of him and none of his guild members had ever tried one. On top of that, there were the special effects.

‘I can now use the Crazy Priests skills like a normal healer’s skill?’

In fact, his Crazy Priest’s healing skills were derived from the normal healer’s skills. Just like in the case of his Crazy Priest’s Heal, it was originally used to heal his opponents, but in his case, bleeding would be triggered if they were healed and slashed. It was the same with the priest’s beloved ability. For priests, they could cast a buff for their party while in Locke’s case, he could cast a debuff against his enemies. However, once he ate the steamed monkfish, he would be able to use the abilities and skills of a normal priest whilst maintaining his Crazy Priest’s skills. Before, he could only be considered a damage dealer instead of a healer. However, with this dish, he would be considered both a healer and a damager dealer! This was a huge improvement! What was even surprising was the fact that his Crazy Priest’s Heal had shot up from MAX. He quickly checked the information about his Crazy Priest’s Heal.

“Wow. S…so sick...!”

What did it mean when the skill was at MAX? It meant that the player had seen the end of the road for his skill. However, this dish allowed him to go beyond the MAX limit. It even added an additional +3 levels in his Crazy Priest Heal. Originally, Locke’s Crazy Priest Heal could produce a +35% possibility of triggering bleeding whenever he wounded an enemy. It could even cause the skin to rot. The body of the enemy would suffer continuous bleeding and their wounds would suffer from accelerated deterioration. With the +3 in the skill, the possibility of triggering the bleeding had now increased to 50%. What was even more surprising was…

‘When Crazy Priest’s Heal is used, there is also a 20% chance of triggering various abnormal conditions in the opponent. It can either be a stun, blindness or reduction of all skills and abilities!’

It was truly a ridiculous ability. Locke’s body shivered in excitement. In recent years, he had felt that he had lagged behind the rest of the guild members. He was a healer, but he was more effective as a dealer. Even if his class was a legendary one, he would still hit a wall in his role as a dealer. Yet right now, he was given a chance to go beyond that wall. So, he quickly approached Minhyuk.

“I love you, Minhyuk! Love you!”

Locke even tried to print a sloppy kiss on Minhyuk’s face. Minhyuk was flustered with the sudden hug from Locke, but when he saw him stretch out his lips towards his cheek, his heart almost stopped.

‘Looking at him at this range... Locke looks really ugly!’

He was even pouting his lips to try and kiss his cheek! Unknowingly, Minhyuk had let out a shriek. “Aaaaaack! Stop, no, stop! Waaaaah!”

“Oink, oink, oink!”

Beanie pulled Minhyuk’s collar to save him from Locke’s grasp. Beanie felt that his owner’s life was being threatened! Then…

Bang!

…Minhyuk swung his fist! Locke rolled on the floor helplessly after being caught off guard. Even so, his happiness was not diminished in the slightest.

“This is good too. Hahahahahaha!”

When he tried to hug Minhyuk again, Minhyuk quickly pulled his sword out.

Shiiin!

“.....Hurry up and eat!”

“Kghk. I…I should do that...” Locke said as he looked at the baby piggy, Beanie.

Beanie had already jumped back up on Minhyuk’s shoulder and was glaring at Locke with his arms crossed! Locke was suddenly struck dumb when he saw Beanie’s expression. It was like Beanie was telling him,?‘I’ve never seen such an ugly animal like this before... Oink!’

Locke felt sad when he realized that he could understand Beanie’s expression. He decided to just comfort himself with the excellent buffed dish in front of him. Just in time, Genie and Khan arrived in front of them.

“What’s the matter?”

“Locke tried to rot my cheeks!”

“...Huh? He tried to use Crazy Priest’s Heal on you?”

“No. He tried to kiss me!”

“...”

“...”

Both Genie and Khan were at a loss for words as they turned to look at Locke.

“Why did you harass...”

“You were scared, right? It’s okay now.”

“N…no! I was just so happy...!” Locke said.

Khan had already approached Minhyuk and inspected his cheeks. Khan said, “Fortunately, your cheeks did not rot.”

“Phew!” Minhyuk breathed a sigh of relief as Beanie patted his cheeks as if to tell him that it was fine. Then, Beanie turned and glared at Locke again.

Glare!

‘W, why do you only hate me...!’?Locke thought. He was harrumphed and looked away from them.

“Once I eat this dish, I won’t heal you!”

“I refuse.”

“There’s no need.”

Genie and Khan knew that Locke’s heals were completely terrible.

Locke grinned and said, “Really? But, once I eat this, I can heal wounds, you know?”

“What are you saying?”

“Isn’t that just as weird as you saying you’re handsome?”

“Che...! Check it out yourselves! You punks!”

Genie and Khan checked the steamed monkfish. Both of their eyes met over the dish. It seemed like Genie had lost her tongue at that moment. She kept on opening her mouth but no words came out. After calming herself down, she finally was able to speak. She said, “...Whenever I see Minhyuk’s dishes, I always feel amazed.”

It was truly a heartfelt admiration. Then, Minhyuk finally saw his skill ‘The Joy of Eating Together’ was triggered as a bowl of steamed monkfish appeared in front of him. He hurriedly sat down as he poked his chopsticks into the dish.