Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 139: Legendary Dish

Juis could see that the power, while present, was very weak right now.

“Goddess Juis, can I raise my head and look at you directly just once?”

She hastily gathered her expression and showed a calm facade, saying, “How dare someone like you try and gaze at my visage?”

Juis scoffed at Minhyuk’s presumptuous request but Minhyuk said, “Because I’ll only know what dish I can make for the person if I saw their face directly.”

“...That’s an unusual ability. What’s your class?”

“It’s Food God.”

“...Food God,” Juis mumbled, nodding in understanding. She thought,?‘He must be one of the Continental Gods.’

Continental Gods were gods who lived on the continent among ordinary people. It was no wonder that she had never heard of him or his name before.

“I’ll allow it.”

The man slowly raised his head to gaze at her face, then immediately bowed down again.

***

Minhyuk had quickly used his ‘Create a Recipe’ skill when he peeked at Goddess Juis, and was finally able to see the dish that she wanted the most.

(Spicy Stir-fried Chicken Recipe for Juis)

Required Ingredients: Daybreak Chicken, Sun-filled Red Chili Paste, Snow Mountain Sweet Potatoes (omitted)

Expected Dish Grade: Rare ~ Legendary

Expected Effects:

?A sharp increase in God’s Blessings.

?A sharp increase in Valkyrie Kingdom’s holy power.

‘S…Spicy stir-fried chicken?!’?Minhyuk thought, eyes widening in surprise.

Spicy stir-fried chicken! It was a dish that could be enjoyed by anyone at an affordable price of 10,000-15,000 won! This dish lined up cabbages, chicken, sweet potatoes, and rice cakes around the grilling pan. However, the most noteworthy part of this dish was the add-ons! Udon, ramen, cheese! Plenty of additional ingredients could be added to this dish!

‘If you order cheese as an add on...’

This was the cheese commonly sprinkled in the middle of the pan once the spicy stir-fried chicken was cooked! Minhyuk imagined a skilled part-timer lending a hand, adding a magic touch to mix everything. Everyone would definitely fall silent as they watch the part-timer work his magic and mix the spicy stir-fried chicken and the cheese together! Then, after waiting for a long time, the part-timer would say,?‘You can eat now.’?before leaving the patrons to enjoy the spicy stir-fried chicken to their hearts’ content.

The thought alone was giving Minhyuk satisfaction. Interesting to watch, interesting to eat and there were even interesting ingredients to choose from!

Then, at that moment, Juis opened her mouth and said, “You, I’m quite hungry right now. Tell that to Varen!”

“Yes!”

“The second catastrophe will soon hit the Northern Continent.”

At the same time, Minhyuk also heard the notifications in his head.

[Four days later, the second catastrophe will befall the Northern Continent.]

[The Second Catastrophe. All players in the Northern Continent will have a 10% reduction in all their skills and abilities.]

This notification was probably heard by all of the players and people who were currently in the Northern Continent. Once Minhyuk stepped out of the temple, Juis looked down and grinned mischievously. In all honesty, she believed that her demands were impossible.

‘I also haven’t tasted a legendary dish in my life.’

The existence of the legendary dish was just like a story that had been passed down from one generation to another. At the same time, she could not help mumbling to herself as she looked down at the spot where Minhyuk was earlier.

‘The Food God and the Incarnation of Gluttony are together...?’

***

Minhyuk immediately rattled off the ingredients that he needed to Varen the moment he came out of the temple. However, the ingredients that Minhyuk needed were all very high-ranked and rare. They would definitely have a hard time getting them.

The most crucial thing was…

‘Among the ingredients that we have, all the ingredients for spicy stir-fried chicken are missing.’

In other words, all the add-ons that the recipe required were missing. In fact, even the ingredients that the recipe required were also hard to find. However, Minhyuk still wondered about the result if they replaced all of the missing ingredients with higher-ranked ingredients. If that was the case, he might still be able to produce the expected Legendary ranked dish.

Varen quickly ordered his men. He said, “Use all of your forces and procure the ingredients to the best of your abilities!”

Even the Legend Guild’s informant also moved to help. The informant had an introverted personality, however, he knew almost all of the information about?Athenae. In addition, he had the ability to return to the places that he had been to, even if he just had a normal return scroll. Using this ability, he quickly went to Ellie’s side and informed him of the happenings in Valkyrie Kingdom.

Ellie quickly mobilized her forces to look for the ingredients. Together with the informant, they began collecting the ingredients at a much faster speed compared to everyone else. They collected as much as they could of the best of the best of ingredients!

With this speed and scale, even if they did not want to know, the rumors had spread to the ears of the Iris Guild. It even reached the ears of the guild master of Louvert Guild, Twilight Chef Black! He was informed that Legend Guild’s chef was trying to please Goddess Juis with his cooking.

“Puhahahaha! This is a complete joke!” Black laughed loudly.

He knew slightly more about this matter since Iris Guild had quickly contacted him and asked him to join the raid. If Black joined the raid, he believed that he would be able to garner enough heat and attention to promote Louvert Guild. In addition, he would also be able to get the god’s treasure, Ballad’s Cup! It was a treasure that could give the player special powers and abilities! It was a priceless item that could only be received from such a quest.

Black knew that they had received a quest to eradicate the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis and appease her with ritual food. If he was able to complete this quest, Twilight Chef Black would definitely gain a lot from this transaction.

Meanwhile, Callian told him, “But, what if that chef actually satisfies Goddess Juis before we do?”

Black snorted condescendingly. He said, “It’s absolutely impossible.”

“Impossible...”

“Up until now, the highest-ranked dish that any player has ever made is only epic. It was only an epic dish even though the ingredients that were used in the dish were all S-grade. We even made it after continuous trial and error, and we have only made 100 of such dishes.”

‘A buffed dish that was made only by the highest qualified chefs, but they were only able to make 100 of them?’

“I…is it that difficult?”

“That’s right. Even if you only heard of the rumors, they still said that they will try and make a ‘legendary’ dish, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s impossible. In fact, I don’t think that it will be possible until a year later when the game is opened to the world. In all honesty, I heard that you have to be someone that has surpassed the master craftsman’s level to produce a legendary dish, so I don’t think it’s possible right now.”

Even Black was still under the master level, miles away from that breakthrough that could take him to the master craftsman level.

“We tried a thousand times using the best of ingredients, but we were only able to make only 100 of these dishes. Do you know who was able to make the epic ranked dish in the end?”

“...who?”

“I did.”

“...!”

The only chef to have ever made an epic ranked dish was Twilight Chef Black! Soon after, Callian’s face was almost ripped in two with the wide grin he had.

‘Come to think of it, it’s Black after all! He’s one of the top 10 chefs who are known in the world, and he also ranks 1st~2nd in Athenae’s Chef’s rankings!’

And…

“After receiving the quest and eradicating the Wrathful Spirit of Goddess Juis, all we have to do is place an epic dish in front of the altar.”

Black shrugged his shoulders in confidence. He said, “I can make an epic dish after I put in plenty of effort, several trials and errors. So all you have to do is prepare yourselves for the attack and be treated as heroes. Of course, we could always prepare the food in advance and cast a food-maintenance spell on it.”

Callian found his arrogance to be something fun and interesting. He said, “Anyway, are you sure that we will be the first one to satisfy Goddess Juis?”

“Of course.”

“Then, how about we do this?”

“Please speak your mind.”

“Let’s slowly circulate those rumors.”

“Ho.”

Black finally noticed his cunningness.

“Who will do it first? Legend Guild or Iris Guild?”

“Yeah. Of course, we will be the ones that will win, but wouldn’t people mock and laugh at Legend Guild for this loss?”

“I see,” Twilight Chef Black said. He grinned wickedly. It seemed like he liked this type of games.

“Ah. When are we going to attack the dungeon?”

“On the day the second catastrophe falls.”

If they did it at that time, then the players would all feel relieved and grateful to them. They would cheer for them more. Iris Guild was well prepared. They were confident that the victory would be in their hands, after all, they had the best rankers from their guild and the best mercenaries participating in the raid. In addition, they had already found the location of the dungeon and were just waiting for the right time to attack the dungeon. They firmly believed that they would definitely receive huge rewards.

However, there was just one thing that he was curious about.

‘The artifacts and gold will only be dropped if we hunt Goddess Juis...?’

Strangely enough, nothing would drop in the dungeon even if they attacked it and they would only be able to acquire the drops once they destroyed the Wrathful Spirit of Goddess Juis. In other words, if they acquired 10,000 gold in their first round of dungeon attack then they would only be able to get 10,000 gold from Goddess Juis. This was the very first SS-ranked quest in the country so they would be expecting plenty of rewards.

Then, Callian turned his attention back to Black and asked him, “How many tries do you need before you produce an epic ranked dish?”

“I probably need to try at least 50 times.”

***

Only twice. After trying to cook the dish twice, an epic-ranked dish already came out.

“...It’s really unbelievably crazy.”

“Does this even make any sense?”

“...”

Varen, Eidne and Perle were all speechless.

‘It’s really different when you make a dish using S-grade ingredients...’

It was truly a different experience. So far, Minhyuk had only tried cooking a dish based on his ‘Create a Recipe’ skill using S-grade ingredients. He only had to use a few S-grade ingredients then. He was not able to cook anything with purely S-grade ingredients, until now.

The ‘Create a Recipe’ skill even recommended more ingredients. Originally, he only needed Daybreak Chicken, Sun-Filled Red Chili Paste, Snow Mountain Sweet Potato and the Rabbit Warrior’s Carrot. However, he was not able to get the Rabbit Warrior’s Carrot so he added the Ground Tree Udon Noodles that were said to be cultivated deep underground. Ground Tree Udon Noodles were a great medicine. In fact, many of the other ingredients that he added to the dish were also great medicines!

Medicines seemed to produce a much more ideal effect than S-grade ingredients. When he used such ingredients to cook, the material grade that came out was much higher, and even the dish rank came out pretty high. Of course, not all dishes would result in a higher rank just because he used high-ranked ingredients. It was also due to Minhyuk’s double effect playing a big role in getting those high-ranked dishes. Also…

‘I think DEX has a higher impact this time?’

It seemed like Minhyuk’s DEX and his Food God’s Acquisition Skill had played a great role in his cooking. Food God’s Acquisition Skill would literally teach him about the perfect timing of the actions that needed to be done in the dish, while his DEX supported and supplemented his cooking skills. This allowed Minhyuk to have the best results in his dishes. In other words, the double effect from the DEX was showing at least 5-6 times the efficiency than what it stated.

‘There won’t be another chance like this.’

The entire empire and kingdom were moving tirelessly to supply him with the best ingredients. This was a chance that he would never be able to get again, so he had to give it his all. After all, this was also the first time that Minhyuk would be able to taste a legendary dish.

In the midst of all his musings…

“Kgghk. It’s a bit of a disappointment. If he was a bit more careful then, a legendary dish might have already come out.”

“That’s true.”

…Varen and Eidni sang their own tunes.

However, on the other hand…

“Hehe. Udon is really delicious!”

…Minhyuk had used the best of the best ingredients. However, since it could not be presented to Goddess Juis, his only choice, not that he was complaining, was to eat this?failed?dish. Of course, the buff effect nor the power that could be obtained from this dish and the previous dish could not be obtained at all, since the owner of the dish had already been chosen.

“Ahem, ahem. Can I have a bite, too?” Varen said, sitting in front of Minhyuk.

For a moment, Minhyuk thought of something bad. He thought,?‘I wish that the legendary dish would come out as late as possible...!’

That way, he would be able to eat more delicious food!

On the contrary, Varen was thinking,?‘I hope that it will come out soon, so we can eradicate the catastrophe already...’

Then, he grabbed his utensils and tasted Minhyuk’s?failed?dish. His thoughts suddenly did a turnaround.

‘...Maybe it’s alright if it comes out a bit later?’

Varen was truly a gourmand. After a single bite, he realized that he also wanted to keep on eating such an amazing dish! After all, it was so delicious that he could not even put it into words.

“Wow... Wow... Really... Wow...”

The taste was so superb that he could only exclaim ‘wow’ to express his delight. Still, Varen shook his head in disappointment. He thought,?‘No matter what, I really hope that it comes out soon!’

“You have to satisfy Goddess Juis quickly. We don’t have much time!”

When he heard his words, Minhyuk quickly finished his bowl and continued on his cooking. However, his ‘Create a Recipe’ skill would consume his buffing ability, so Minhyuk could only cook four times per day.

Was there any other way? None. So King Varen instructed his men to bring this ingredient to him.?Ramis’ Honey!

“Kgghk! It might not be Lefender’s honey, but it’s still delicious honey!” Minhyuk said as he quickly made grilled rice cake and ate it with Ramis’ Honey. He could not stop himself from eating such a delicious combination! Ramis’ Honey was not the best of the medicines that could be found, but once ingested it could randomly increase the person’s EXP and restore their buff ability.

“Chomp!”

The steaming rice cake was dipped in Ramis’ Honey and placed in Minhyuk’s mouth. Once he chomped on it, he could taste the sweetness of the honey and the crunchy texture of the grilled rice cake. After chewing for quite some time, Minhyuk tasted the chewy inside of the rice cake which further enhanced his experience! It was truly a delightful snack.

“Kgghk!”

[Your buff has recovered.]

[You have leveled up.]

[Your buff has recovered.]

[Your buff has recovered.]

[You have leveled up.]

He continued to cook the dishes according to the recipe from the ‘Create a Recipe’ skill. Then, once his buffing ability was used up, he would go and eat Ramis’ honey before cooking again. This cycle continued on and on. Ramis’ Honey was around five platinum per dose but Minhyuk was being supplied an endless amount of Ramis’ Honey. This was a feat that no player could ever hope to replicate.

Minhyuk was even able to bomb his way through his levels just by eating Ramis’ Honey. Previously, when he successfully hunted Rumad, he was able to gain twenty levels which raised his level to Level 241. However, just by eating Ramis’ Honey, he was able to increase his level to Level 249.

Minhyuk continued on for two days. He just continued to cook and eat Ramis’ Honey before cooking again. However, the results…

“Two epic, 20 unique... uhm...”

…were disastrous. After the two epic-ranked dishes, the rank of the dishes began to deteriorate.

“W…we’ll be in big trouble tomorrow! The catastrophe will definitely fall on us tomorrow!” Varen said, almost pulling his hair out of his head from his anxiety.

Minhyuk had suddenly started to lose his luck. This placed Varen’s heart in tenterhooks. He was too nervous. He did not know if Minhyuk knew of his troubles, but he still watched as Minhyuk ate Ramis’ Honey.

[Your buff has recovered.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have unsealed Great Mage’s Arfield’s Cloak.]

This cloak laid in his inventory quietly. Without this notification, Minhyuk might have completely forgotten about this item. This cloak was the cloak with the ‘invisibility’ function that could be worn at Level 250 and above. Now, this cloak had been unsealed.