Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 134: His Worth

The guild members' eyes all widened in surprise.?23%?!?A player could only receive such a huge EXP Acquisition Rate during special events. For a player to reach that level of EXP buff effect, they needed to wear two ‘Growth Rings’ easily worth 300 platinum each. These growth rings had the ability to increase the experience by 5% each. Furthermore, the players also had to eat a buffed dish made by the Twilight Chef, Black. Yet, right in front of their eyes, such an effect was displayed for less than one platinum.

There was even a +2 on the Spearmanship Mastery! Each class had an examination that would determine their rankings, if the player ranked high, they would receive a mastery passive skill. This mastery passive skill had a wondrous effect where it could increase the attack power, movement speed and attack speed whenever the skill level increases. Crow’s Spearmanship Mastery was at Level 7. With the dish that Minhyuk made, it would be temporarily increased to Level 9. With that temporary increase, Crow’s attack power, movement speed and attack speed were boosted by 8%.

“C…crazy...! Crow, don’t mess with us!”

“Can you even think of White Beard’s death as a joke?”

“H…how can I think of something like that as a joke!”

“I’m also not messing around. All of you should take a look at it!” Crow said, as Ace hurriedly went in front of the curry rice. After checking the dish, Ace took not one, but two steps back in shock before…

Thud!

…falling down on his butt and crying out, “C…crazy...!”

Even the silver-haired Goddess of Battle, Ascar, a person whose expression was constantly stoic, looked intrigued. She quietly loosened her crossed arms and approached the dish. Ascar’s eyes widened ever so slightly as she looked at the dish and the ingredients used. She said, “I…I can’t believe this.”

Her eyes stared straight at Minhyuk. The guild members now finally realized that Minhyuk was not being arrogant nor conceited when he said those words earlier. In fact, it could clearly be seen that Minhyuk’s dishes were far superior to anyone else’s dishes. If they compared the dishes made by Twilight Chef Black with Minhyuk’s dishes, it seemed that Black’s dishes were truly too shabby.

“I…I’ll eat this! Minhyuk, I’ll pay you ten platinum!”

“Huuuuh? I’ll pay 20 platinum!”

“30! 30!”

A 23% increase in EXP acquisition rate would give them the possibility to overtake and beat the rankers that were higher than them in the rankings. This was also the reason why all of them were so surprised. It would not be strange if the price would increase by a lot.

“It’s mine!” Crow shouted, his face crumpling in annoyance. Then, he smiled and gloated, “This is a dish made just for me!”

It was clearly labeled on the dish that it was specifically for Crow and the buff effect would only take effect if he was the one who ate it. The guild members groaned, their faces filled with regret.

“Please take a seat, Crow!” Minhyuk said. He did not care one bit about the reactions and responses of the rest of the guild members. He picked up the spoon that fell on the ground, replaced it with a new one and handed it over to Crow before urging him again.

“Ah. Yes.”

Crow’s face was filled with confusion as he sat down and placed the steaming curry rice on top of his manly, fatherly legs. Then, as if on cue, the same curry rice appeared in front of Minhyuk.

“Hehe! Delicious curry rice!”

“...A special ability.”

The guild members looked on in surprise as they saw the curry rice appear in front of Minhyuk. Then, Crow picked up his plate and savored the deep and flavorful aroma of the curry rice in his hands. The strong smell of the spices was already making his mouth water endlessly and he could not help but drool.

‘Wouldn’t it be great if this also tasted good?’?Crow thought as he looked at the plump, glossy rice sitting on the side of the plate and the thick curry beside it. Then, he moved his spoon and mixed the curry and the rice together. After mixing, Crow took a spoonful to his mouth. The unique aroma of the curry slowly spread in his mouth as he chewed. The thick curry sauce, together with the plump rice, slightly ripe carrots, onions, broccoli and potatoes mixed together to create a beautiful harmony. The carrots were also not too soft, nor too hard, but still a bit crunchy, which added a pleasant texture to the dish. Even the pork tenderloin was chewy and juicy which perfectly rounded up the dish.

“...”

Crow looked down at his curry rice for a moment. It was nothing short of spectacular, its taste thick and flavorful. He only had one bite, but he already felt sorry for himself that he had not yet eaten it to his heart’s content. So, he mixed the dish thoroughly and ate another bite.

“Crow, say something!”

“Crow?”

However, Crow did not answer them. He was focused on adding a well-ripened kimchi on top of his mixed curry rice. After adding the kimchi, he carefully placed it in his mouth.

Crunch, crunch!

The crunchy kimchi with its sweet and spicy flavor had caught the taste that curry lacked and made it whole. He quickly ate another bite. However, this time it was with pickled radish. The combination of the sweet and sour pickled radish was also divine. Then, he wrapped the curry rice with the savory roasted seaweed. Since the curry was cooked well, this bite was completely savory and delicious.

‘It’s really delicious.’

Crow ate it all in one go. He could not help but reach his hands out for the pan. He quickly ladled out the remaining curry while Minhyuk scooped up some rice from his rice cooker and added it to the curry. The two of them ate and ate again. Crow easily ate three servings in one sitting. He picked up a glass of cold water.

Gulp, gulp━

After gulping down the water Crow let out a breath and closed his eyes in bliss, a small smile hanging at the corner of his lips. He stayed like that for a moment, before opening his eyes and saying, “My god. I have never tasted such delicious curry rice in my life...”

Crow said this with all his heart and sincerity. A person could experience plenty of emotions and feelings whenever they ate delicious food.

‘Ah, it’s delicious.’

‘Ah, I really want to eat it next time.’

‘I feel good since I had a hearty meal today.’

Such thoughts would definitely surface in the mind. However, Crow was sure of one thing… the dish made him happy and satisfied. He turned to Minhyuk and said, “Thank you, Minhyuk. It was truly delicious.”

Minhyuk looked up at him after he finished eating his curry rice. ?All of the guild members looked at him. Especially Locke. He was drooling all over as he looked at Minhyuk and his plate longingly.

“Waah. Me, me too... I want to eat too.”

It had great buffs and it was delicious too. They felt that this was the best restaurant since the food was both affordable, delicious and useful to them.

“Should I go next? Hoho!” Locke swiftly and naturally raised this matter.

Ascar looked at him and frowned. She said, “No. It’s me, Locke.”

The usually silent and frigid Ascar spoke firmly for the first time.

Ace also spoke up, “No. Hyungs and Noonas! It’s the best time for me to eat and grow up, are you not going to give this chance to your lovely youngest?”

“No.”

“No.”

“No.”

“A…a straight refusal...” Ace said, taken aback. ‘How can these people be like this!’

Genie finally mediated between the rest of them. She said, “I’m really, really sorry, but I think one among the three of us should eat his dish next.”

The three people that she spoke of were Genie herself, Khan and Locke.

“Wow, Genie Noona! You’re so cunning!” Ace said while sulking, and the rest of the guild members looked at Genie in confusion.

“We don’t have much time left, the dungeon needs to be cleared.”

“Ah...!”

“That’s right. Ah.”

Genie, Locke and Khan were trying to clear a dungeon. They wanted to take a video of them clearing that dungeon to show the world about Legend Guild and the time for them to clear that dungeon was coming to an end.

Dungeons like this would pop out sometimes. If the number of failures increased and they still did not clear the dungeon, it would either disappear from that place or close permanently. The dungeon that they were challenging was just like that. Right now, the three of them needed to eat some buffed dishes to quickly clear the dungeon. The rest of the guild members looked a bit disappointed.

However, at that time Crow suddenly shrieked, “Aaaaaaack!”

“Ack?! W…what! What’s wrong?!”

“Don’t tell me there’s a side effect with the buffed dish?”

“Does he want to go to the bathroom?”

“D…damn,” Crow said. He looked like he wanted to cry as he continued to say, “W…why did I only use one A-grade ingredient... If I used the rest of the ingredients, the effects would definitely be even more amazing!”

“Ah...”

“Uhm...”

The guild members understood Crow’s dilemma. Minhyuk made it clear to them earlier. He said that they could replace the ingredients, however, the rank of the dish and the buff effects would definitely decrease. However, right now the meaning could also be interpreted differently.

“W…what... if Crow Hyung used all of the ingredients that Minhyuk Hyung listed earlier, what kind of dish would he make?”

“...”

“...”

The guild members all fell silent. Meanwhile, Minhyuk shook his head and said, “Considering the A-grade ingredient that we have this time, the effects of the buffed dish were already good. We were also lucky to have a unique ranked dish.”

“But, a unique dish came out this time, is it possible for an epic or a legendary dish to come out next time?”

“That’s always the case, right? Of course, the better the grade of the ingredients, the more likely you are to eat that rank of dishes. However, you should also keep in mind that you can only eat my dish once a month.”

The guild members all nodded in understanding.

‘Wow, for real... his abilities are really amazing.’

There was only one reason why the guild members thought like that. If you bought an artifact from a blacksmith, even if the quality was good, they would usually only use it for a few months before asking for another artifact to be made again.

On the contrary, what about these dishes? Although they had to pay for it handsomely, they will be able to eat it once per month. Artifacts, of course, were much more expensive than dishes, but they would eventually reach a limit depending on the material that was used. What about Minhyuk’s dishes? They would not hit any limit besides the once-a-month restriction. Besides, anyone that saw the buff of his dishes would definitely come back again like junkies looking for their supply. What if they got used to the 10% additional strength and the buff suddenly disappeared on them? They would definitely not get used to it. ?It was like Minhyuk’s worth jumped to 10 billion, no, to one trillion with just one dish.

At that moment, Genie suddenly said, “Among the three of us, can you cook for Locke first?”

“Woohoo!” Locke rejoiced. He laughed happily as Genie explained her reason.

“Locke’s heal effect is very strong. If his ability to put the enemy in a bleeding state becomes stronger, I believe we can take down the enemy easily. I think it will also work well in that dungeon.”

“Really? I understand.”

Minhyuk nodded as he used his ‘Create a Recipe’ skill. Once he checked the recipe for the dish that he would be eating, he could not help but jump up in surprise. He said, “It’s steamed monkfish. Yay!”

Minhyuk was supposed to cook for Locke, but it was him who was delighted with the fact that he would cook steamed monkfish.

‘Ah. That’s right. Minhyuk can also eat with us, right?’

Locke was also in high spirits. He said, “Kyaa! Steamed monkfish! I can’t wait. I’m definitely going to collect the best ingredients and eat them!”

Then, Ace burst his bubble and said, “Wow. Hyung, you’ll also eat food that looks like you?”

“...Y…you want to die?!”

***

The chefs of the Valkyrie Kingdom were moving busily. Among them was Legendary Chef Rald. The reason why he was dubbed as the legendary chef was simple. There was once a dragon that attacked Valkyrie Kingdom. The dragon, together with his powerful soldiers, wreaked havoc and almost devastated the kingdom. That dragon was the Black Dragon, Aspel. He continued to invade the kingdom despite the protection of the God Juis.

At that time, Black Dragon Aspel transformed and hid himself in the palace. He killed the king and all of his knights, before trying to kill the rest of the people in the palace. However, before he could do so, it was said that he had been drunk by the smell of the cooking and that he desired Rald to cook a delicious dish for him.

Even monsters regarded food as something important in their lives. Therefore, delicious food was also something that they would covet. Rald feared that Black Dragon Aspen would kill him and the rest of the people so he had no choice but to cook for him. However, it was likely just a legend. It was a fictitious story that came from the mouths of the people around him. They made that story to express how delicious Rald’s cooking was. Since he was the one in charge of cooking the food that would be served to satisfy the Goddess Juis, they had already considered his story to not be too far from that legend.

“I believe that Goddess Juis will also be satisfied with this dish again.”

The ingredients were the best of the best. The dish could only be made with ingredients above the S-grade. Furthermore, the dish he made was always at least at the epic rank! To make this one dish, Rald repeatedly cooked with S-grade ingredients until he got it perfectly. Goddess Juis was picky and she would not eat anything below the epic rank.

And the dish that would be served to her was….

…Braised short ribs!?To be exact, it was not just a simple serving of braised short ribs. The braised short ribs would be the main dish and there would be various delicious side dishes that would be served along with it. Even those side dishes were made to be extremely delicious and appetizing. Rald smiled pleasantly, unaware of the looming disaster.

1. A dish made with monkfish braised in a spicy red sauce and served with?kongnamul?or soybean sprouts