Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 344: The Ruler of the Forest

Chapter 344: The Ruler of the Forest

Witnessing the birth of weird and unusual names from Minhyuk’s absurd naming sense brought the two people standing in front of the crystal ball in a daze. The first one to gather their senses back together was Conir. He said, “I believe that’s not the main point.”

“That’s right.”

They were wondering how Minhyuk led hundreds of wild beasts to attack the cyclops and the drake.

“How in the world did this happen…?”

Arakhan had told Minhyuk that he could use the topography and the terrain however he wanted, but he had never imagined that Minhyuk would make use of the wild beasts in the forest. Then, as if recalling something, Arakhan said, “Ah, from what I recall, that boy’s class is a ‘chef’.”

“I see…”

Conir and Arakhan were once again dumbfounded. For a chef, such an outstanding performance in the past trials was simply shocking. How could he be so strong when he was just a chef? And that was not all—how could a chef be like a monster tamer and tame those ferocious wolves and bears, making them follow his command?

On the other hand, Arakhan, who had tasted Minhyuk’s food before, felt like he could sympathize with what the beasts felt. He thought, ‘That’s really amazing. Everything is…!’

The strongest contender to become their successor was not a knight, a swordsman, or a warrior, but a man whose main class was non-combatant: a chef.

“Maybe, with this…”

Conir and Arakhan looked at each other.

“…he might really awaken.”

***

Much earlier.

Minhyuk immediately escaped deeper into the forest after being spotted by the cyclops and the drake. He quickly found a cave and hid himself within its depths, concealing his presence as much as possible. While he was busy trying to hide himself, his head was already hard at work and had already thought of plenty of methods to deal with the two monsters.

‘Should I set the forest on fire?’

The method was feasible. With the help of the Sun God’s Sword, he had a high probability of creating flames with a slash. Using those flames to set the forest on fire was not that difficult. However, Minhyuk shook his head and dismissed the thought.

‘The drake has a ridiculously high speed and high resistance. It would be able to survive the forest fire.’

Minhyuk had studied a lot about Athenae in search of ways to eat as much delicious food as he could. With the amount of his research, he was confident that he knew more about the game than anybody else. That was why Minhyuk was sure that it would be impossible for him to hunt the drake, even if he set the forest on fire. Also, there was the chance that he would burn himself instead, dying an ironic and stupid death.

‘My skills are also not available.’

With his MP significantly reduced, Minhyuk could only use a few of his skills. Even his stats were in the same state. After taking everything into account, Minhyuk finally came to a conclusion.

‘I’ll just have to do what I’m best at, right?’

What was the thing that Minhyuk was good at? It was none other than food! He had incredibly high DEX and cooking skills to begin with, and even with his DEX reduced, there was no way that his body would forget how to cook.

After making that decision, Minhyuk did not fall into frustration even after knowing that he could not use his Create a Recipe skill as usual. He had memorized countless recipes, so he could easily make one of those.

Minhyuk quickly took out the beef’s ‘eye of round’cut and drained its blood. Then, he took out his Super-Large ‘Food Dehydrator’ that he always brought with him.

‘Fufufu. This really is the Super-Large Food Dehydrator.’

A food dehydrator was an appliance that was used to dry fruits and meat. It was also used by many pet owners to make snacks for their beloved cats and dogs. The best thing about Minhyuk’s food dehydrator was its large capacity and the ability to shorten the time needed to dry the food. Minhyuk quickly filled it with slices of eye of round, then started the dehydration process.

While he was waiting for the meat to dry, Minhyuk went outside to survey the wild beasts in the area. From what he saw, wolves were the majority, with the occasional bear and snake.

The dehydrator made beef jerky for six straight hours. After the jerky was finished, Minhyuk scattered some pieces around the cave. Then, he hid himself and waited with bated breath.

Dragged in by the tempting smell, a few wolves approached the cave. The wolves were very cautious at first as they looked around and sniffed before taking a bite of the scattered jerky. And then…

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

…they started eating with relish, as if they were dogs presented with snacks. It seemed like they were also having a conversation, with how they were growling back and forth.

“Grrrrrr! (Th, this is delicious!)”

“Grrrrrrr?! (Delicious? How delicious?)”

Chomp, chomp.

“Grrrrrrr!! (Extremely delicious…!)”

Then, the wolves began to gather one after the other. Of course, Minhyuk had deliberately added some ‘Sea Honey’ to the seasonings that he had used to coat the beef jerky earlier. That was the reason why the wolves looked like they were craving for more of that heavenly taste. After a few moments, Minhyuk silently approached one of the wolves that had strayed away from the pack.

“Grrrrrrrr!”

The wolf naturally showed its aggressiveness! But then, Minhyuk raised the jerky in his hands.

“Stop!”

“Grr, grrrrr? (Th…that’s…?)”

The wolf began to drool as it thought of ways to take the piece of jerky away from the man.

Minhyuk said, “Well then, I will give you this beef jerky if you listen to me.”

“Grrr?”

Minhyuk started to train the wolf, just like that. When the wolf tried to approach him, Minhyuk hid the jerky. When the wolf stopped moving, Minhyuk would take it out again and throw it to the wolf. And before he knew it, the wolf was already wagging its tail at him. Seeing this, Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction.

“Well, from now on your name will be Chicken. Chicken, I will give you this jerky if you call your friends over.”

Chicken immediately showed an aggressive stance, firmly rejecting Minhyuk’s proposal. It was showing Minhyuk that it wanted to eat the delicious jerky on its own!

However, Minhyuk said, “If you bring your friends over, I will give you twenty more pieces of jerky.”

Dash, dash, dash!

Chicken disappeared in a flash. My goodness! A wolf dashed away in an instant to sell out its friends! Not long after, the wolves gathered in front of Minhyuk.

Minhyuk lifted the jerky in the sky and said, “Catch the bears and snakes alive. The first one to bring back one will get a piece of jerky~”

The wolves immediately went to work, catching bears, snakes, and other wild beasts, while Minhyuk fed them. Then, Minhyuk shouted, “You see that giant chicken over there? And the giant? The first wolf to kill them will get three pieces of jerky!!!”

Minhyuk climbed on top of the largest wolf in the pack as he started hunting the cyclops and the drake.

***

“Grrrrrrrr! (Beef jerky!!!)”

“Grrrrrrrrrr! (I will be the one to eat the jerky!!!)”

The bears and the wolves dashed forward together with Minhyuk, who was sitting on top of the largest wolf, named Bossam. Hundreds of wolves pressured the cyclops and the drake as they jumped up and bit on their necks while scratching them with their claws.

“Graaaaack!”

“Grrrrrrrr!”

Injuries also began to show up on the bodies of the wolves.

Slam—

“Whine, whine!”

“Whine!”

However, despite their efforts, the gap between the cyclops and drake and the wild beasts was just too wide. The wolves hit by the cyclops’ club flew away and rolled on the ground.

“Grrrrrr! (I! Will! Eat! Jerky!!!)”

“Grrrrrrrr! (If we fall here, then we will not be able to eat beef jerky…!!!)”

“Graaaaaaaa! (The beef jerky is mine!!!)”

Despite the glaring gap in strength, the wolves showed their unwavering spirit. They might be bleeding and exhausted, but they would fight to the death for their beef jerky!

Minhyuk also stormed the chaotic battlefield for these weary and injured wolves. He shouted, “Wolves! Attack the cyclops’ lower body!!!”

“Grrrrrr!”

Minhyuk’s AGI was very low right now. However, the wolves could run as fast as fifty kilometers per hour, and the wolf that he was riding on was special to boot! In other words, Minhyuk was covering his shortcomings by making full use of the wolves.

“Grrrrr!”

“Graaaaaaa!”

Unfortunately, the truth was that just one attack from either the cyclops or the drake could kill these wolves.

Minhyuk quickly used one of the wolves as his springboard as he jumped up and stabbed the cyclops’ one and only eye!

Stab!

Crackle!

[Sun God’s Blazing Flames]

[There’s a 50% chance of triggering blazing flames that will cover the opponent’s entire body while dealing 1% of the user’s attack every two seconds.]

With perfect timing, the Sun God’s Blazing Flames burned the cyclops’ eye. The cyclops grabbed its face and roared, “Graaaaaaack!”

Having lost its vision, the enraged cyclops swung its huge club indiscriminately. With the opportunity presented to them, the wolves immediately dashed forward and attacked it. Dozens and dozens of wolves clung to the desperate monster. In the end, the cyclops could not withstand their fierce assault and fell down in a heap. The wolves quickly bit on the cyclops’ collapsed body until it breathed its last.

After dealing with the cyclops, Minhyuk focused their attention towards the drake. The drake had a very high HP and defense. However, the attack that had been divided between the cyclops and the drake was now only focused on the latter.

“Kieeeeeeeeeeck!!!” The drake shrieked loudly as the wolves bit on its wings. Its wings were the weakest part of its body in terms of defense! In the end, the drake also collapsed and succumbed to the attacks.

“Awooooooooooo! (Jerkyyyyyyyyy!!!)”

“Awoooooooo! (I can eat jerkyyyyy!!!!)”

“Awoo, awoo, awooooooo! (Oooooooooh!!!)”

The wolves howled in joy as Minhyuk threw the beef jerky towards them. The wolves immediately jumped forward to munch on their much awaited treat.

“Bossam, you did a good job! That’s right, Chicken too!!!”

Minhyuk waited for the trial completion notification as he fed the wolves jerky. Then, Genie’s whisper suddenly came in.

***

Genie was with Haze as they looked at Berdk attack base located in the distance. After the end of the Soldiers’ Great Battle, several rankers launched attacks to try and recapture Berdk. Genie had told them that this was a hasty operation, but all of them ignored her. The result of their stubborness was complete and utter defeat.

Berdk was fully equipped with 800 Kharamis soldiers and siege weapons! It was already an uphill battle with those things alone, but the Chinese players had also joined in the fray, making it more difficult for them.

Then, Haze said, “We have seen how useful and effective the siege weapons are during this battle. We must take Berdk.”

Haze was also well-versed in reading the flow of battle, which was why Genie had always kept her by her side.

“Do you have a plan?”

“We do. The members of the Let’s Eat Sect and the rankers should work together and launch an attack.”

“But that will bring us a lot of casualties.”

Haze agreed with Genie’s words. Once they died, they would not be able to re-enter the Continent Cloud, so they had to be careful. So, she said, “Seems like we can’t find the answer on our own. Why not contact Master?”

Genie nodded. She knew that Minhyuk had gone somewhere to become stronger. Although they were in the middle of the continental war, Genie knew that this was something that Minhyuk had to do. She was confident that Minhyuk was the only one that could kill the Chinese rankers, which included Hu Yitian.

Then, Genie sent Minhyuk a whisper.

[Genie: Are you working hard to become stronger?]

[Minhyuk: I’m improving immensely~]

[Genie: Oh~ I look forward to it. Ah, more than that, Minhyuk…]

Genie explained the situation that they were in. She told him that the chances of Korea winning this Continental War would increase once they recaptured Berdk. Even their morale would increase tremendously if they succeeded in this feat. Although they had won the Soldiers’ Great Battle, the public still expected that they would be defeated. However, Genie was sure that this would change once they recaptured Berdk.

Minhyuk went silent for a moment after hearing Genie’s explanation. He only sent a reply after a while.

[Minhyuk: I have thought about a good plan.]

[Genie: What is it?]

[Minhyuk: Set fire to Berdk’s food storage warehouse.]

[Genie: Fire?]

[Minhyuk: Yeah.]

Genie was confused. She unconsciously blurted, “Set fire to the food storage warehouse…?”

Haze, who was standing beside her, looked as if she had been enlightened. She said, “I think Master wanted to make the soldiers of Berdk hungry and decrease their morale. As expected of Master…!”

Genie was in awe. She thought, ‘It’s not that hard to sneak into their food warehouse.’

They might be caught if a large number of troops moved, but they would be able to sneak in if only a small number of assassins went in to infiltrate. Thinking that she had gotten the gist of it, Genie sent a whisper back.

[Genie: We’ll set fire to Berdk’s food warehouse to reduce the morale of the soldiers, right? After that, we attack?]

However, Minhyuk’s reply was shocking.

[Minhyuk: No, nope. Set fire to the food warehouse and cut off their food supply route.]

Genie could understand up to this point. So, what did Minhyuk mean when he said ‘no’?

The next reply that Minhyuk sent brought her a far greater shock.

[Minhyuk: We’re not going to kill Berdk’s Kharamis soldiers. We’re going to make them our ‘allies’.]

“Make them… our allies…?” Genie mumbled in confusion.