Chapter 131

Changwook smiled softly as he watched the four friends together. He thought, ‘I’ve never seen Minhyuk look this happy before.’

After all, he only came to know Minhyuk after the latter suffered from eating addiction. Throughout the years that they had known each other, the first time that Changwook had seen Minhyuk smile happily was when he ate hard bread for the first time in Athenae. However, right now, Minhyuk was showing a much brighter smile than that.

“Ah. That’s right. You must be hungry now,” Changwook said, approaching them quickly.

“We have a buffet ready for today.”

“Oh! A buffet!”

“Buffet!”

All of them looked excited and happy. They were looking forward to the buffet. It seemed like they were finally going to be able to eat legit food in this ‘country’ that regulated and controlled the food! They followed Changwook to where the buffet was prepared.

“Well then. Please help yourself. There’s tomato steak, tomato juice, tomato chips, tomato...”

“Ack...”

They were shocked by the newest trend in the world, a tomato buffet. However, Minhyuk was enjoying everything happily. Then, Jihye peeked at him and cautiously said, “Minhyuk, by any chance, do you want to join our guild?”

Minhyuk froze on the spot with a tomato still hanging on his lips. When Rovan asked him about joining his guild, Minhyuk told him that he wanted to be with his friends. Of course, the premise was that they would not steal his food. However, now that it came down to it, he suddenly felt anxious. He did not know whether it was right for him to join their guild or not. Upon consideration, he realized he was fine now. He had finally realized what they thought of him.

“Sure.”

Jisoo, Jihye and Seoktae’s expressions all brightened with his answer. Jihye hesitated again. It seemed like she wanted to say something.

“What is it?” Minhyuk asked. He was quick-witted so he realized that she had something to say.

“You see, I checked your cooking skills when you handed me the steak you made for King Varen.”

“And then?” Minhyuk prompted. He looked like he knew where this was going.

“I know that it hasn’t been a long time since we’ve met, but I want to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?” Minhyuk asked in confusion.

Jihye looked very apologetic as she said, “Yeah. Can you cook buffed dishes for our guild members?”

Minhyuk pondered for a moment. He realized that this was a chance! A chance to get the second God’s Dish! A Restaurant’s Full Course Meal!

The first dish allowed him to level up his Food God’s Cooking Skill and acquire an invincible body. Besides, the Pig Trotter Set was truly delicious. So, what about the second dish? How would the Restaurant’s Full Course Meal taste? What abilities would it give him? For him to receive it quickly, he had to cook for others. Of course, he would still be able to take advantage of it by using his skill ‘The Joy of Eating Together’. The only problem was…

‘King Varen only gave me a 5% increase in satisfaction. I believe it would be hard for ordinary players to give me even a 1% increase.’

According to his class quest ‘To Have a Feast with Other People’, there were a lot of factors that could influence the increase in the satisfaction level, things like position, level and abilities. If that was the case, then the members of Legend Guild might be the best customers that he could have. After all, they were high-leveled unofficial rankers.

Then, Jihye said, “Of course, I’m not asking you to do it for free.”

Even if they were guild members, who would even cook for others for free? No, it was also because Jihye wanted to give Minhyuk the best treatment so he would agree to her request.

“We’ll pay you as much as you want. We will also bring you the ingredients for the food. You only need to prepare and cook the dishes.”

It was an interesting offer. They would bring the ingredients for Minhyuk to cook and he would be able to eat with them. That was good. Those were truly decent terms.

“I’ll give you however much you want depending on the amount of buff the dishes would have.”

“To be honest, I don’t really need any money.”

“Ah. R…really?” Jihye asked. Then, she nodded, knowing the reason why. In fact, Jihye was aware that Minhyuk’s artifacts were not just great, they were amazing. When they were attacked in the carriage, his armor had deflected physical attacks and his frying pan, which not only boasted a high defense, it could also deflect magical attacks. Even his sword was not something that was easy to break.

“It’s just… If you don’t need money... Then, what should we do? Should we help you bomb your way through your levels?”

The Legend Guild would drive a bus if it came down to it! Anyone would kill for this opportunity. However, Minhyuk still shook his head. He said, “No. Whenever I cook, you just have to bring me delicious ingredients.”

“De…delicious ingredients?”

“Yeah. Delicious ingredients! Something more special than the regular ingredients!”

“For example?”

“From A-grade cooking ingredients to S-grade cooking ingredients!”

In fact, there were still plenty of ingredients that Minhyuk could not get because of his level. Quite a few ingredients were hidden in high-leveled hunting grounds. However, Minhyuk was sure that Legend Guild would be able to bring him those ingredients, or probably find a way to obtain them.

“OK!” Jihye readily accepted his conditions.

Minhyuk, who had been waiting for the right timing, said, “Then, should we access Athenae first? This is too tasteless… I want to go and eat something delicious...”

“A…agreed...”

They all readily agreed.

“Is there a capsule room here?” Jihye asked.

Minhyuk nodded and said, “Yes. This building has it.”

Minhyuk guided them to a room that was filled with capsules.

“Wow... L…look at all these capsules... A…all of them are new!”

“This is awesome... This is class...!”

They all went into the capsules with awe in their eyes. Meanwhile, Minhyuk went to his own room since he could only fit in his extra large capsule.

***

Varen finally met Ellie. He was given a warm welcome while partaking in an enjoyable dinner with her in Eivelis Empire’s Imperial Palace.

‘If the Eivelis Empire can help the Northern Continent with the monster situation, we will give them as much information and support as we can.’

This was proof that Eivelis Empire was moving ahead of Collodis Empire. Countless quests were even given to players affiliated with Eivelis Empire.

“Foreigners, pay heed! We are recruiting troops to subjugate the monsters of the Northern Continent!”

“Hey, hey. Amazing. We should definitely do that quest!”

“Kyaa! Pioneering the Northern Continents!”

It was not just the players of Eivelis Empire that jumped on the opportunity to pioneer the Northern Continent. Even the players from Collodis Empire tried to get a piece of that cake.

“Right now, Eivelis Empire will be doing their best to explore the Northern Continent. We must be the first to conquer and succeed in this exploration! We need to be the first to get the monster drops and valuable resources! Are there any foreigners who want to join this conquest?!”

It might have been worded differently, but the fact that they wanted to explore the Northern Continent remained unchanged.

With the help of the members of Legend Guild, Ellie’s 500 soldiers, and another 50 knights, Varen was able to meet up with the surviving soldiers of the Valkyrie Kingdom.

“Your Highness! We’re very sorry!”

Sob, sob, sob!

Varen’s loyal subjects welcomed him with tears in their eyes. Following Varen, the members of Legend Guild became the first ones to set foot in Valkyrie Kingdom.

[You are the first to discover Valkyrie Kingdom.]

[You have gained 30 REP.]

[The people have been informed that you have saved King Varen.]

[In Valkyrie Kingdom, the Legend Guild will be known as the heroes who saved King Varen.]

[You can purchase items, skill books and potions with a 10% discount.]

[Your high favor with the citizens of Valkyrie Kingdom will make it easier for you to receive quests.]

“Kyaa!” Ace suddenly exclaimed. He said, “There’s definitely a Robin-like woman in this place, right?”

“You’re going to go out with an NPC?”

“Hyung. NPCs are human beings too!”

Crow clicked his tongue and asked, “When is our GM coming?”

“She’ll arrive soon, right?”

Genie, Khan and Locke were all currently logged out but they could easily come here with the ‘Valkyrie Kingdom Return Stone’ that Varen had given them. Giving the return stones or any items between guild members was easy. They only needed to place it in the guild vault and they would be able to access it right away.

“But I still wonder what kind of territory King Varen would give us?”

“I know right?”

“Genie Noona will be the one to receive it, right?”

“Of course. The one with the highest REP in the guild is Genie.”

Genie’s REP was overwhelmingly high. It was almost twice the REP of all of the members of the guild combined. Usually, if the guild received a title or territory, the person with the highest REP would be the one to receive it and not the GM. Someone with a high REP would definitely have an easier time managing the land and the soldiers.

They arrived at Verce, the capital city of Valkyrie Kingdom. All of the members tilted their heads in confusion.

“What’s this? Why are they all so busy?” Ace asked in confusion.

They were not even this busy when their king arrived. The knight assigned to them, a knight from Valkyrie Kingdom’s Silver Knight Order, explained, “It’s because we’re currently preparing for a ritual.”

“A ritual?”

“Yes. Our Valkyrie Kingdom is protected by the Goddess Juis. It is because of the blessings of the Goddess Juis, that monsters do not invade our Valkyrie Kingdom.”

“Ho.”

There were many gods in Athenae, the highest among them being Athenae. Athenae was also more commonly known to its players as the supercomputer that oversaw the worldview of Athenae. There were five other gods that sat beside him, and one of them was Goddess Juis.

“Once a year, everyone would gather together with the priests to hold a week-long memorial and ritual service to express our gratitude to the Goddess Juis.”

“Gasp... A week...”

“We are very grateful to her, so a week is only natural,” The knight said, looking up at the sky and folding his hands in a prayer.

“Goddess Juis is a gourmand. She has an extremely demanding palette for food.”

“Gourmand?” Crow asked, his interest piqued ever so slightly.

“Yes. After each ancestral rite, Goddess Juis will come down to our land and taste the dishes made by the legendary chef, Rald, before ascending once again. She has a really picky taste. There was a time when a salmon, which had been spoiled, was sent up by mistake.”

“Yes.”

“Goddess Juis was extremely furious. Back then, the Northern Continent suffered from drought for a long time. Even the monsters became extremely ferocious and attacked the villages at the outskirts of Valkyrie Kingdom. It was a punishment from Goddess Juis. Ever since then, every citizen has been very meticulous in the details of the ritual.”

Crow nodded. He thought, ‘So to put it simply, she turned the table upside down because the food was not good. Right?’

She must be a goddess that was very demanding and difficult to please. At that moment…

[Guild Chat: Guild Master Genie has logged in.]

…Genie had logged in. It seemed like she had plenty of things to say right away.

[Guild Master Genie: I have some good news. We have two new guild members joining us.]

Ace and Crow looked at the chat with interest.

[Guild Master Genie: The first one is Root.]

“Oh. Root’s skills with the bow are amazing.” Crow said in awe.

Then…

[Guild Master Genie: And the other one is the Frying Pan Killer who killed Rumad. In fact, his real class is...]

Genie paused for a moment and both Crow and Ace tilted their heads in anticipation.

[Guild Master Genie: …A chef who can make buffed dishes.]

“Gasp?!”

“OMG?! This is more shocking than that time when White Beard died!”

Ace and Crow’s eyes met. A chef had such ridiculous power?! The guild chat was suddenly very active.

[Guild Chat: Minhyuk has joined Legend Guild.]