Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 13: Chicken Filled with Love

When Minhyuk went to Instructor Valen to give him his share of fried chicken, the latter gave him a letter, together with a red hair tie.

***

"Instructor Valen wanted me to deliver this to you."

Roina saw what Minhyuk brought and slowly reached her hand out to grab it. She looked at the hair tie and hurriedly checked the contents of the letter.

I bought this because I thought it would look pretty on you.

I think it should be my turn to treat you to a meal. It would be nice if we could meet at the entrance of Isbin Village at 19:00, three days later.

Roina broke into a big smile. A man giving a woman a hair tie as a gift. This meant a lot to her, more than anybody could know.

'You like…'

She was beside herself with joy, as she pressed the letter close to her bosom and smiled sweetly.

Minhyuk watched her as he nibbled on his leftover fried chicken from last night.

'Now the two of you can handle the next step yourselves. Huhu.'

He looked quite pleased with how everything turned out.

Someone had appeared to fill the emptiness and the lonely life of Valen, and the other party had finally confirmed that the man she liked felt the same way too.

It was as though his own sister had found herself a good man. Anyway, Minhyuk was able to finally eat fried chicken and that was more than enough!

"Thanks, Minhyuk."

"Whamt?"

Minhyuk looked at her with his mouth full of chicken.

"It's all thanks to you."

‘If it wasn't for you, perhaps, we would have kept our feelings to ourselves forever.’

Roina smiled at him softly. She then quietly pulled something out of her military backpack.

It was a black leather armor.

[You have received Sylph's Leather Armor.]

[You have gained 4 reputation points.]

"Thank you very much!"

Like the previous time, Minhyuk received it without any hesitation.

"Go on and check it out."

Roina grinned at him as she gathered her long, black hair and tied it tightly with the hair tie.

"Hehe… You look pretty."

"Ah, really… That mouth of yours!"

"Check!"

Minhyuk immediately checked his item before Roina could say anything else.

(Sylph's Leather Armor)

Class: Rare

Restriction: None

Durability: 3,000/3,000

Defensive Power: 314

Special Abilities:

> STR +2, AGI +6

> When worn, Bardy Swordsmanship's skill level increases by +1

Description: A leather armor that's blessed with the power of the Sylph. It was handed down from generation to generation in Instructor Roina's family.

The agility increase from the special abilities was quite high. There was even a +1 skill level for Bardy Swordsmanship when the armor was equipped.

Minhyuk thought that initially, it was because he had attained a certain level of favor from his interactions with Roina, that he received the Bardy Swordsmanship.

After which, he had gained even more favor, and received the Sylph's Leather Armor as a result.

He then checked the chapters of the Bardy Swordsmanship that had a +1 level increase.

(Vital Strike)

Active Skill

Type of Swordplay: Bardy Swordsmanship

Mana Required: 20

Cooldown: 1 minute

Effects: Additional 17% ATK power for each successful strike

(Two Consecutive Quick Assault)

Active Skill

Type of Swordplay: Bardy Swordsmanship

Mana Required: 30

Cooldown: 1 minute

Effects: Each sword swing will deal damage twice.

(Bardy Swordsmanship)

Active Skill

Type of Swordplay: Bardy Swordsmanship

Mana Required: 50

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Effects: +9 to all 5 basic stats for 5 minutes once skill is activated.

Aside from the Two Consecutive Quick Assault, all the other skills had increased in strength and were improved. The Vital Strike had an additional +2% in ATK power while the Bardy Swordsmanship had an additional increase of +2 to all of the 5 basic stats.

"I'll use it well, Instructor."

Roina smiled widely at Minhyuk's words.

"Make sure you come back to play agai…"

Before Roina could finish her words…

[The God of Athenae has entrusted you with a mission.]

[Please propose two quests to Player Minhyuk.]

"......!"

A notification rang in Roina's ears.

***

All of the members of the Special Players Management Team were gathered together, as they zoomed in and looked at the monitor featuring Minhyuk with serious looks.

"The second trial will begin now."

All of the employees nodded at Team Leader Park's words.

Minhyuk had completed the unnotified trial yesterday when he achieved a /10 on his fullness.

'He’s going to receive the second trial from the nearest NPC to him.'

The NPC had to propose the quest to him with no special conditions. No matter how close Roina was to Minhyuk,?she would not be able to make it any less dangerous.

"Is there anyone who does not know about the second trial?"

"There's no one!"

Team Leader Park looked at Lee Minhwa as she replied with a grim expression.

"He would be given two quests to choose from for the second trial. One of the quests is a legendary quest called?Invincible Character, while the other quest only has a '?' in both the contents and rewards section."

A legendary class was guaranteed as a reward for the first quest. Even up till now, all of the Legendary classes that had been released were special and none of them were weak. There were several Legendary class holders who were part of the current Rankers.

"Yes, that's right."

Lee Minhwa continued to explain as Team Leader Park signaled for her to continue.

"This trial is a challenge. You can either choose the one with a guaranteed Legendary class or get an uncertain class with the '?'. The '?' can even possibly result in a meaningless class. It's well known among the players."

"That's right." Team Leader Park nodded.

‘Grin.’

"Furthermore, this is the surest way to get a Legendary class. So, if you're not an idiot, and you're a player who wants to get?really?strong, then you would pick the first option…!"

She clenched her fists tightly.

"Who wouldn't want to challenge a quest for a guaranteed Legendary class?!"

In fact, in many cases, the '?' had always been a failure so naturally, people would choose the stable option.

Unlike the Legendary class which was a challenge, the God class was often a gamble. It was said that they would either have an extremely strong God-like ability, or an extremely weird God-like ability.

"This time, that player should not betray our expectations. But…"

Team Leader Park swallowed, before continuing.

"It would be better for him to choose the Legendary class, berserker, than to become a?Food God."

"...a Food God." Lee Minhwa thought about those words.

'A fraudulent God class where you raise your stats just by eating. That's an ability that's truly in line with his character…'

She looked at Minhyuk through the monitor.

***

[Please propose two quests.]

[The first quest. Go to Isbin Village, find Berserker Brachni and hunt the monsters that he identifies.]

[The second quest. Attack the Twilight Graveyard near Isbin Village.]

Roina looked at Minhyuk. He was smiling brightly while eating his chicken.

'I heard that this notification will only go off on very special occasions.'

Roina was not an idiot. She understood what it meant. It was a test; an absolute one.

As guardians, they had to obey the orders of the God of Athenae.

"Minhyuk. I'm going to issue you two quests."

"Quests?"

"Yeah. The first one is to go to Isbin Village and find Berserker Brachni. He will then give you a hunting quest."

Minhyuk nodded.

"As for the second quest, you have to take on the dungeon, Twilight Graveyard, near Isbin Village. You can only choose one of the two. Whichever you choose, you won't be able to attempt the other."

As Roina finished speaking, a quest window appeared and floated in front of Minhyuk.

[Quest: Find Brachni]

Rank: Legend

Limit: None

Rewards: Class change to Legendary Class, Berserker.

Penalty for Failure: None

Description: Your greatness starts now. Meet the Berserker, Brachni, in Isbin Village to start challenging this legendary class.

[Quest: Attack Twilight Graveyard.]

Rank: ?

Limit: ?

Rewards: ?

Penalty for Failure:?

Description: Attack Twilight Graveyard. You have no idea what will come and what you will get.

"...hmmm."

Minhyuk was very calm.

"I~~ see."

He nodded distractedly.

'I thought they would give me something delicious again.'

Minhyuk thought that this was a pointless task.

"Is… Is that the only reaction you have to a legendary quest?"

"No. I'm glad. I'm so happy that you can even see tears of joy in my eyes. Boohoo. Can you see it in my eyes, over here?"

"You're really a strange one, huh?"

"I'm really crying, Instructor."

"Don't yawn and squeeze it out!"

"Yes!"

Roina laughed in defeat.

‘This bright, young lad. I really want to help this young man.’

She had a guess as to what he would choose.

'Minhyuk would definitely go to the Twilight Graveyard since the other quest clearly looks like a job that has no relation to food. This kid’s greatest happiness is only in eating.'

‘Would a kid who thinks like that choose to take on the berserker quest?’

‘No, definitely not.’

Roina also knew what monster existed in the Twilight Graveyard. The graveyard was one of the easiest dungeons. She had heard from the conversations of the other players about what appeared at the end of the dungeon.

‘Should I tell him about it?’

"When you go to Isbin Village, go and meet this old man named Allon."

"Allon?"

"Yeah, he gives out delicious red bean jelly if he's in a good mood."

"Red, red bean jelly…?!"

Roina nodded while Minhyuk's eyes grew to the size of saucers.

‘As expected, he looks much more excited than when he received the legendary class quest!’

'Wi, will he just give me something to eat?'

‘Red bean jelly is delicious too. It has that soft and sweet taste that gently melts in your mouth.’

His mouth was already watering.

"I have to go now, Instructor!"

"Okay, come back to play again."

"Yes!"

Minhyuk left quickly.

Roina watched his figure fading into the distance and burst out laughing.

"Ahahahahahaha. I’m willing to bet everything I have that he's definitely going to the Twilight Graveyard!" She remarked, as she reached out and stroked her hair tie.

***

Just as Minhyuk was about to enter Isbin Village, he realized that four hours had already gone by. He immediately disconnected from the game.

"Here are your cherry tomatoes."

Everyone quickly approached him. Minhyuk reached out for the tightly sealed cherry tomatoes and slowly started to eat.

Oh Changwook was among those people who approached him.

"Have you left the Novice Zone?"

"I left just now, General, sir!"

"Woow…"

Changwook's fists trembled.

‘Ack, if he wasn't the son of the chairman, I would have definitely given him a good punch!’

"You should thank me, Hyung."

"First and foremost, thank you. But, why?"

"I obtained a rare piece of armor and a weapon for you. I'm the only one who cares about you, right? You should be shedding tears because you're thankful, yeah?"

"You’ve already gotten a rare piece of armor and weapon?"

"Eh? Why are you so shocked, I really have them."

"How did you get a piece of rare armor and a weapon in the novice zone? It couldn't be a drop, right?"

"The NPCs gave it to me though?"

"...Huh?!"

Oh Changwook's eyes widened. The higher Ranker could not make out a sliver of common sense from the words he had just heard.

'I heard that this guy only ate inside so why would an NPC give him anything?'

Getting artifacts from NPCs was not an easy task. It was practically impossible. They would know if you were trying to get close to them.

‘They were, in fact, very much like humans.’

That was the reason why the items given by the NPCs were not recorded nor well-known in the system.

"However, won’t they be toys compared to the rare items that your hyung got by buying? Come, let's hear about the attacking and defending power."

"Uhm, Sword of Rebellion has 211 attack power with STR +4, AGI +3 and a skill called Dauntless Strike…"

"Wa.. wait. What did you say?! How much was the attacking power?!"

"The attacking power is 211."

"...That's impossible!"

Oh Changwook's eyes widened once more. Even the other people around, who were also playing Athenae, were in disbelief.