Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 1049

Chapter 1049

When Minhyuk heard Arlene’s vow, ‘I will stand by the Battle God’s side,’ he understood that she meant that she recognised him as the Battle God and would put her faith in him and follow him.

‘There might not be any material rewards, but the fact that Arlene, one of the Absolute Gods, has vowed to support me will be a huge boost.’

Minhyuk’s work in the Land of the Gods was over. He said his goodbyes to the Battle God and the God of Cooking. Then, he turned to the God of the Directionally Challenged, who he did not detest, and said, “If you come to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, I will make sure to treat you to a delicious meal.”

Minhyuk flashed a soft and gentle smile before disappearing in a flash of light.

Arlene and the Battle God were about to leave after Minhyuk disappeared. They looked at the God of the Directionally Challenged in confusion when they saw him stand there with his head bowed down.

“The next generation Battle God said that I could come right away. So, I should go.”

“...?”

“...?”

Both the God of Cooking and the Battle God were bewildered. The meaning of Minhyuk's words to the God of the Directionally Challenged was clear. Minhyuk meant that he would treat the man to a meal if “they met later” or if “he ever came to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.”

But the tactless god in front of them said, “Fufu. He must have been deeply impressed by the power I displayed earlier; that's why he told me to come immediately.”

Then, the God of the Directionally Challenged left. But despite setting off right away for the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the God of the Directionally Challenged did not meet Minhyuk.

“Where– Where am I?”

Why? Because he got lost.

***

Joy Co. Ltd.’s third-anniversary event, the triple EXP event, was nearing its end.

During the entire duration of the event, all of the players focused on levelling up. This was obvious from how they went hunting and completing quests nonstop. Because of that, more than 250 people reached Level 650 during that month.

The community sites all over the world were in a buzz.

[Those who reached Level 650 must be going crazy. When you reach Level 650, all of the skills related to your class will increase by one level. Not only that, your stats will also increase by 30.]

[The system will also analyse each player and give them skills at the level of a one-shot kill skill.]

[The moment you reach Level 650, you will receive the title ‘The One who Achieved Level 650’ and will be at least 1.4x stronger than when you’re at Level 649.]

The people praised the players who have reached Level 650 and how much stronger they have become.

[If it’s at this level, then even normal and legendary class players can compete with god-class players.]

The benefits one would receive when reaching Level 650 seemed to be Joy Co. Ltd.’s way to narrow the gap between ordinary and god-class players. The players had realised that the god-class players would no longer be an object of fear once they crossed through Level 650.

But there was something far more important than this. That was the announcement of the player who achieved the greatest growth and the ten other players who had achieved the highest growth among the players that will be released soon. These players would receive a special potion manufactured by Joy Co. Ltd. themselves.

Many of them knew that the player who had achieved the most remarkable growth was Minhyuk.

[To be honest... we have to admit that Minhyuk is really amazing. This time, the Supreme Dish and the Supreme Monarch hunt were incredible!]

[Yep, yep. That’s right! Minhyuk is definitely the player who achieved the most significant growth.]

[But what all of us are curious about is the gap between him and the other players’ growth rates. Am I right?]

That was right. The reason why they were very curious about how high the gap between Minhyuk and the other players’ growth rate was because Joy Co. Ltd., in a very clever move, closed the growth rate from the public’s view a week ago.

[From what I recall, the difference between the growth rates of Minhyuk, who is in first place, and Vallaro, who is in second place, is 4%. Right?]

Vallaro has only played for a year and is already an up-and-coming high-ranker. He climbed to the ranks of the high rankers in that short amount of time, garnering the attention of many players, especially during this event, where he showed a ridiculously high growth rate. As for Minhyuk, the players were currently unaware of how much he had grown after he had successfully cooked and eaten the Supreme Dish.

While everyone was shaking with anticipation, Joy Co. Ltd. finally released the announcement.

[We will now announce the players with the highest growth recorded during the event period.]

[1st place: Minhyuk. Growth Rate: 18%.]

[2nd place: Vallaro. Growth Rate: 7.9%.]

[3rd place: Locke. Growth Rate: 6.3%.]

[4th place...]

[5th place...]

[Congratulations to all of the players who have entered the rankings.]

[You can find the potion reward from this event in your inventory.]

[This announcement marks the end of our Third Anniversary Event.]

After checking the results, the viewers were left in shock. The growth rate was the gauge that would tell them how much stronger they had become during the entire month.

Of course, low-level players could reach 100% of the growth rate simultaneously. Still, the growth rate index that they had announced was the total of various factors, which, of course, included the players’ level. Simply put, Minhyuk had become 18% stronger than he was a month ago.

The viewers were astonished.

[Minhyuk did not get the 3x benefit. Hey, where did those people who said that Minhyuk would not be able to level up during this month go?!]

[Wow. Didn’t Minhyuk need more than 10x the amount of EXP to level up? On top of that, he also was excluded from the event. But... he grew 18% stronger than before? Is this fr?]

[Ah, you shouldn’t forget that the player achieving the highest growth will receive the +8 All Stat Increase Potion. If he drinks that, then Minhyuk will be at least 20% stronger than before.]

[...]

[...]

The chatting window suddenly grew silent. Not long after, a player spoke up.

[I grew 4.3% stronger in the past month...]

[Me, I grew 4.6%...]

[Mine’s at 2.7%.]

The average growth rate of the players was around 4%.

[Ah... Life...]

All of the players felt depressed.

***

The Beauden Fortress was where Immortal Sorceress Helenia was sealed in. It was also where she summoned her fragments and her one and only disciple, Arumbe.

Several empires, including the Luvien Empire, had tried to break down the transparent walls that surrounded the sealed Helenia. But even though they had used anything and everything, the transparent walls remained firm.

Because of that, dozens of nations stationed themselves outside and guarded the fortress in rotation. Right now, three Swords of the Gods and three thousand elite soldiers of the Luvien Empire were on guard duty.

The problem was that the unbreakable walls that protected Helenia started to crack.

“What the hell...!”

“Heok!”

The sudden turn of events flustered the Swords of the Gods.

“Quick! Send a report to the empire...!”

The Sword of the Gods could not even finish his words, his head bursting right then and there.

“Aaaaaaaack!”

“Damn it. We will never be able to escape.”

A gigantic barrier appeared and trapped the three thousand elite soldiers of the Luvien Empire.

“It... it’s burning!”

Flames suddenly erupted from the ground and burned every single one of them alive.

Crack, crack, crack–!

Helenia slowly and elegantly rose to her feet. She had been sleeping inside the now broken transparent walls. Then, she looked at the burnt remains of the humans before her.

Even though she had been sealed, she could see everything that happened around her. That was why she could not help but gnash her teeth in anger. The Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire had stopped her complete descent.

‘Most of my ores have already disappeared.’

The power carried by the four attributed ores served to increase Helenia's own attribute magic. Of course, even without them, Helenia could still have the humans in the palm of her hands.

Nevertheless, there were still risks, and she needed to prepare. She needed to find a way to regain some of her power, and only one person knew how.

“I’m quite excited to see Master’s face. After all, we haven’t seen each other for a very long time,” Helenia said, a vicious smile curling at the corners of her mouth.

***

[You have achieved the highest growth rate during the entire duration of the event.]

[The potion will be distributed to the player with the highest growth rate.]

Minhyuk had been reviewing the reports and happenings in the Beyond the Heavens Empire during his absence. Fortunately, Haze was very competent. She had already handled most of the things, and he only needed to deal with a few reports and sign some documents.

After dealing with his work, Minhyuk immediately removed the potion from his inventory and gulped it down.

[All of your stats have increased by +8.]

Minhyuk nodded. He could not help but smile whenever he thought of the huge growth he had experienced recently.

“Ugh...”

“Your Majesty, what’s the matter?”

“I’m just a little tired.”

With the exploration of God’s Prison, the bet with the Absolute Gods and the entire fiasco with the Supreme Dish, Minhyuk had to admit that he was pushing himself too hard.

He had also reduced his sleep as much as possible. He felt like he hadn’t slept for an hour during the three days that he had been busy with all of those.

Now that everything was over, a wave of fatigue washed over him.

“Then, you better go and get some rest.”

“That’s right. I have to go and get some rest. But I’ll go and visit Grandpa first.”

“The grandpa you’re talking about should be Beradon, right?”

Minhyuk nodded. “The huge boost in my growth is all thanks to Grandpa. But what’s more surprising is that Grandpa is a huge foodie. So, I want to go up the mountains, give him some gifts, and treat him to a delicious meal. Hmmm. What gift would be good, though?”

Haze, who pondered over Minhyuk’s question, answered, “How about some alcohol?”

“Oh! That sounds good?” Minhyuk said as he looked at Haze in awe.

He was sure the old man would be happy to drink some good alcohol while eating delicious side dishes and snacks.

Minhyuk went to grab a very rare bottle of liquor from the Beyond the Heavens Empire before heading to Beradon's location.

***

Perhaps he had long known that a situation would arise in which the disciple he nurtured and raised would become like this. That was why Beradon wanted to spend the last days of his life doing nothing and living peacefully.

‘It’s a significant time.’

When he met the young man, he felt like time was sweeter and more precious than just doing nothing and waiting peacefully for eternal rest. A kind smile graced Beradon’s face before he coughed violently, having choked on his blood.

“Urk...!”

“It’s fine even if you don’t want to tell me. I can just kill you, master, and take away the information from your head. Ah, more importantly...” His second disciple smiled coldly. Then, she asked, “...where did you hide the ‘Teaching Guide’, huh?”

The Teaching Guide was another name for Beradon’s Disciple System. It was a great and holy power. Although it had not yet bloomed to its full potential, someone had taken it away.

However, Helenia was fully aware that whoever had the power of the Teaching Guide would have the chance to go beyond even Athenae. After all, it was a power that would give new teachings whenever they faced their limits and continued to grow.

“Ho- hoho...” Beradon chuckled as he thought of the face of the young man.

‘It’s now with someone who would allow it to shine more than you.’

Helenia pulled out the hand that she used to stab Beradon’s heart in annoyance.

Spurt–!

Beradon fell on his knees, his blood dripping down his gaping chest.

Drip, drip–!

A fleeting sense of tranquillity appeared on Beradon’s face despite the blood dripping down his chest. He thought that he was just being punished for the crime of teaching the wrong child.

“Just die.” Helenia scoffed, realising that Beradon would never tell her anything.

Several spears of light appeared around her and made to pierce through Beradon’s body.

[The God of Origin has sent the Divine Shield.]

Flash–!

The light fell from the sky, turning into a barrier that protected and enveloped Beradon. It protected him from the light spears shooting toward him.

Helenia’s lips twisted into a frown. She now looked utterly annoyed. “You should know it too, right? As the God of Origin, it is tough for you to intervene directly in matters here on earth. It seems like you can no longer intervene after this, no?”

Athenae did not answer. But even if she did not, Helenia was convinced that she could no longer intervene and stop her from this point on. Besides, even if this absolute barrier would not be broken, Beradon was already on the brink of death.

A wave of power spread from the tips of Helenia’s fingers and squeezed through the barrier protecting Beradon. The power seeped into Beradon’s head, and looked for a method that would ensure that she would never lose.

A vicious smile appeared on Helenia’s face when she found a method. Then, she promptly disappeared. She did not even care one bit about Beradon. After all, even if she did nothing, Beradon would die soon.

***

Minhyuk hurriedly went to find Beradon. He was looking forward to Beradon laughing and saying, ‘Hoho. This tastes great!’ when he tasted the bottle of liquor in his arms.

At that moment, he caught sight of the stars that filled the night sky.

[Beradon’s Disciple System has been activated.]

“...?”

Minhyuk was confused.

‘Why did it suddenly get activated?’

He just could not understand it. Then, another notification came in.

[Beradon’s Disciple System is by your side!]

Minhyuk felt happy when he heard this notification—it was the same one he heard the last time. When he heard it, Minhyuk felt like Beradon would stay by his side for the rest of his life.

If his guess were correct, the same notification as last time would also ring right after this.

[The system's creator smiles as he looks at you.]

A bright smile appeared on Minhyuk’s face when he heard the notification.