Chapter 174: Disaster Artifact

[You have met with Demon Gorac, one of the Seven Myths.]

[You have acquired 100 REP.]

Minhyuk’s eyes widened when he heard the notifications. Gorac was the one who created the Aging Jar. A jar that would immediately ripen and mature any food placed inside it. When Minhyuk received the artifact, he firmly believed that Gorac was a good chef who also had a love for good food and delicious flavor. If that was not the case, then how could he make such an amazing artifact? Because of that, Minhyuk had great respect for Gorac, especially with his gigantic form standing in front of him.

Gorac looked at Minhyuk with a grin. He said, “You’re an interesting human.”

Minhyuk just smiled wider as Gorac continued, “You have my aging jar.”

“That’s right. I have been using it well!” Minhyuk said. Then, he looked around as if he was looking for eavesdroppers before leaning forward and whispering, “Not too long ago, I ripened and matured some soybean paste. Don’t you think that I can make some really good soybean stew with the tofu made from this millstone?”

Gorac was eccentric, this was also the reason why he found Minhyuk’s existence to be interesting. He liked the unusual. Of course, Gorac’s Aging Jar had that ability, however, he did not think that anyone would use it at all. However, from what Gorac could see, the young man in front of him had used the jar for that ability alone.

‘I can’t believe that this lad is the one who killed Loon in just five minutes.’

Gorac found him to be an interesting character.

Grin━

That was when Gorac decided to settle what had already been set. Before being sealed by his subordinates, Gorac made it so that the Demon Worshippers would be able to summon him through the ring once they fulfilled the conditions that he had placed. If he was successfully summoned from the ring, then it meant that the person that summoned him would have the ‘Demon Name’ that could succeed him and his position. This was also the reason why Gorac was so surprised when he came out.

Brrrrrrr━

Demon Gorac stretched his black index finger, showcasing his sharp and long nails, as a weak black light appeared and condensed into the form of a book. The book with the image of the demon printed on its covers floated before landing in front of Minhyuk.

At that moment, notifications rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

[You have acquired Gorac’s Book.]

[Gorac’s Book can allow you to transfer to one of the special classes created by Demon Gorac. This book will give you a class according to your preferences.]

[The classes that Demon Gorac had created are all ranked ‘Legendary’.]

[You currently have the God Class, Food God. You are not allowed to give up your God Class.]

Minhyuk was confused when he suddenly heard the notification about a new class. Meanwhile, Gorac watched as the light that flashed from Gorac’s Book got deflected as it tried to seep through the human’s body. This meant that the human in front of him had a class that could not be replaced by the class selected by Gorac’s Book.

‘As expected, he’s an interesting human.’

“That Gorac’s Book is extremely priceless, you should keep it well.”

“Yes, I understand. But, you really have cool horns.”

“...”

Gorac hummed at the sudden and unexpected flattery.

“Wow! You even have veins showing on your arms! You’re truly such a manly man!” Minhyuk shouted. There was only one reason why he was laying on the flattery without a shame, and that was because he could smell something delicious from Gorac. Minhyuk continued to say, “You’re even two meters tall... Wow~”

Gorac just watched the human in front of him sing his praises. Then, the man coughed loudly before asking cautiously, “Gorac, I believe you know about delicious food ingredients, right??Cough, cough!”

Gorac grinned widely. He thought,?‘A man who wants something from me...’

Such an existence was very rare. Normally, humans would be speechless and trembling in fear at the sight of him. Then, a great idea came to him. The eccentric Gorac thought,?‘Come to think of it, those ingredients are still there.’

Gorac smiled deeply. He loved to play pranks on other people. It was his hobby of some sort. So, he said, “If it’s delicious food ingredients, then I know all about them. I know of a famous area in the Demon World where you can get special ingredients.”

“Waaaaaaaa. Really?”

Gorac nodded and said, “But! The ingredient can only be found in the temple. Those ingredients are as special as the Aging Jar and the Millstone of Abundance.”

“Oh...” Minhyuk exclaimed in awe, his lips curling up in a smile. Maybe it was a place where many special and mysterious ingredients were hidden?

“Lad, I’ll tell you where that place is since you’re special,” Gorac said, stretching his finger as an old and worn map appeared in front of him.

[The Map to the Hidden Temple can be obtained once you accept the quest.]

At that exact same moment, a quest window popped up in front of Minhyuk.

[Quest: A Hidden Temple.]

Rank: Sealed.

Requirements: Level 340

Rewards: Sealed

Penalty for Failure: Sealed

Description: Sealed

Everything was sealed. However, Minhyuk still accepted it without hesitation.

‘I accept.’

[You have acquired the Map to the Hidden Temple.]

(Map to the Hidden Temple)

Requirements: Level 340

Description: Currently Sealed.

Minhyuk still could not check anything since he had not reached the required level yet.

“It’s time for me to go back now,” Gorac said, turning around.

Minhyuk quickly bowed and said, “Please get back home safely! Thank you very much!”

Gorac’s mouth twitched, his grin widening further. Anyone that saw the grinning face of the Eccentric Demon Gorac would say that it was terrible. A newborn child would definitely burst into tears with how scary it was. He thought,?‘Fufufufufufu! That’s right, there are very special ingredients there! But there.... Puhahahahahaha! There’s someone who’s on par with me that would be waiting for you there.’

Gorac cackled. Then, he stopped and thought,?‘If he can get through it then he will be able to obtain unimaginable powers but if he fails then he will undergo immense, terrible pain.’

Shwaaaaaaaak!

Gorac was sucked back inside the ring while Minhyuk looked at his back that was disappearing like he was looking at an idol.

“He’s such a nice guy!” Minhyuk said, smiling brightly. However, his bright smile disappeared the moment he turned around. It was then replaced with a cunning grin.

***

‘As expected. I was right.’

The notification about Gorac’s appearance somewhat surprised Minhyuk. Even the notifications described him as a demon.

Demon.?They were existences that anyone should be wary of. Even though there was not much information released about them yet, Minhyuk was sure that Gorac was a big shot with tremendous power in the Demon World. For the first time since playing?Athenae, Minhyuk had felt ‘dread’.

Gorac seemed like he was interested in him, but Minhyuk’s heart trembled in fear. He thought that Gorac was the person that made the Aging Jar, so it was highly likely that he was also the one that made the millstone.

‘Is it possible that he knew the location of another ingredient or material? He should know about some, right?’

Minhyuk pretended to be innocent as he smiled brightly at Gorac. Of course, Minhyuk would always have a bright smile whenever he was eating food or thinking about food. However, over the course of his stay in the world of?Athenae, he realized that his silly and innocent smile was very helpful to him. In other words, Minhyuk received a quest from Gorac by using his?‘I’m a fool who knows nothing!’?appearance. This meant that Minhyuk had one-upped Gorac without him knowing it at all.

‘There should definitely be delicious ingredients there. The only problem is that I don’t know what else is in there,’?Minhyuk thought, nodding. Then, he walked to the millstone and acquired it by reaching his hand out.

[You have acquired the Millstone of Abundance.]

Minhyuk quickly checked the information of the millstone.

(Millstone of Abundance)

Rank: Unique

Requirements: 400 DEX

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Durability: 5,000 / 5,000

Special Abilities:

You will get double yield if you put something inside and grind it.

?The first grind will have a very, very special power and it will be extremely delicious.

Description: It’s a very special millstone where you can get twice the amount of the ingredient that you placed inside once you grind it.

“Hmm,” Minhyuk hummed, looking at the place where Gorac had disappeared. Before, Minhyuk would never have guessed that Gorac was the one who made this artifact. Now, he was sure that the millstone was also made by Gorac. Minhyuk had also discovered that Gorac was not the good chef that he thought, but a demon instead. That was why he was a bit skeptical.

‘Is there something else hidden?’?Minhyuk thought. Then, he shook his head.

‘Right now...’

This was the time for him to focus on one thing, which was eating delicious tofu made from the millstone! Minhyuk quickly took out the beans that he had placed in his inventory in advance. To make tofu, he needed to soak the beans for at least eight hours. That was why he had prepared it in advance. Right now, it was the time for him to make delicious food with the tofu that he would make with the millstone.

‘Fufufufu!’

Minhyuk put some beans over the millstone before holding the handle and turning it to grind. Before he started making his tofu, Minhyuk made a grave decision. He would make tofu and eat about 300 pieces of it, he would then leave some pieces for the meal that they would eat together since his father loved to eat tofu too.

Minhyuk suddenly paused and said aloud to himself, “Eyyyy. Isn’t that amount of tofu too little? I should at least eat 500 pieces~ Let’s eat some more tofu. Ahahahaha!”

The tedious and repetitive work of turning the millstone finally began.

***

Haurin and the guild members of Bachran Guild were in a buzz.

“Th…the Sixth Trial has been cleared...”

“Crazy shit!”

All of them were astonished. Even Lark, who was left alone since Kaistra went back to his village for some personal business, was in complete disbelief.

‘H…how did he do it alone...’

Five people attacked it dozens of times but they could not break the trial. What was more shocking was that he took less than five minutes to clear the trial.

There were already more than 50 guild members of the Bachran Guild gathered in front of the tomb. They surrounded the tomb as if they were preparing for a siege. As soon as the Frying Pan Killer came out, they would immediately attack him.

However, Lark had different thoughts. The Frying Pan Killer would definitely only have one Gorac’s Artifact with him, so they were planning to pay him the price of a legendary artifact in order to acquire it from him. He had talked with Kaistra and he knew that there was a story between them.

Lark also heard a story about Kaistra before. He heard that there was a local broadcasting network that visited Kaistra’s village in the past. They were documentary filmmakers so the village elders danced and sang for them. However, did the villagers really want to do that? The answer was no. They were told that they would earn money, food and other necessities if they did that. Therefore, in order for them to earn money, the villagers had forced themselves to laugh, dance, sing and hunt. However, the filmmakers had just left without giving them anything that they had promised before.

Kaistra said, “I couldn’t forget the feeling of despair, sadness and tears back then.”

Kaistra had told him that even though they longed for money, they did not wish to be slaves to it. The same was true for Lark. Lark thought,?‘I believe it’s worth that much.’

The Frying Pan Killer would not be able to unseal it, so Lark knew that it would be worth around the same price as a legendary artifact. So, he waited. However, something was weird. The Frying Pan Killer did not move on to the Seventh Trial and instead, stayed in the Sixth Trial. However, it had been five hours since he had cleared the Sixth Trial and there was still no movement.

“Yaaaaawn. What the hell. Why isn’t he coming out?”

“What the hell is he doing inside?”

Ten hours passed by. The members of Bachran Guild had already taken turns guarding the vicinity since the sun had already set.

Just like that, a day had passed. Kaistra still had not come back as well. Lark wondered if something was wrong. However, an absurd thought flashed in Lark’s head. Perhaps the Frying Pan Killer was turning the millstone inside. If that was the case, then the waiting was a waste. By now, Lark could tell that the Frying Pan Killer also knew about the disaster artifacts.

Three days passed by.

“Yaaaaawn.”

The members of Bachran Guild had already set up tents in various places, exhausted from the waiting. Just then, Lark’s eyes widened. He took a coin out of his pocket. The coin had the image of Demon Gorac on it.

‘It’s the coin used for finding disaster artifacts...’?Lark thought as he watched the coin flash with a black light. The coin?in his hands was a mysterious artifact that could sense when two disaster artifacts were gathered. This meant that the Frying Pan Killer had another disaster artifact with him.

Tremble, tremble, tremble━

Lark’s body started trembling. Currently, Calauhel had two disaster artifacts, of which one was the disaster artifact that he had obtained. Gorac’s Coin was also with him when he met with Calauhel to give the artifact. Back then, the coin flashed with a purple light.

The light from the coin would show the rank of the combination of the disaster artifacts. If the coin flashed red, then it was a low-ranking combination. If the coin flashed orange, then it was considered as an ordinary combination. If the coin flashed purple, then it was a top-ranking combination. Calauhel’s disaster was a ‘Typhoon’. And right now, the coin was flashing a black light.

‘Th…the strongest combination...’

Shwaaaaa!

The black light became more intense.

Badump, badump━

Lark’s heart shook wildly as he looked at the entrance of the tomb. The most powerful disaster was being born in the world, right at this very moment.