Gourmet Gaming

Minhyuk scrolled through the rewards list. He could see that each and every single one of the items listed was very outstanding.

If one chose gold, they would get as much as 100,000 platinum. If they chose artifacts, they would be able to acquire Rumacar’s Ring, an overpowered artifact that could absorb the opponent’s skill and return it back to them at full force. It was an item that would be very useful when fighting against Named NPCs or boss monsters. Even the selection of skill books that he could obtain was impressive.

And yet, the moment he saw it, Minhyuk’s eyes solely focused on the Sky World’s Native Chicken. He did not even ponder over this matter for too long.

“Of course, I will choose this.”

In the end, Minhyuk chose the Sky World’s Native Chicken, and he did not have any regrets over this matter.

“Why should I choose that ring? I can’t even eat that~ Eating is what’s more important. Ah, it’s only natural, right? Wahahahahahaha!”

There was a saying that originated from ancient times that went, ‘Eating would be better.’

[You have acquired the Sky World’s Native Chicken from Rumacar’s Treasure Box.]

A skillfully processed Sky World’s Native Chicken appeared right in front of Minhyuk.

These days, there was a certain dish made of chicken that Minhyuk had been craving. It was none other than braised chicken. It was quite similar to the spicy version. However, the key difference was that braised chicken was a dish that was prepared in soy sauce.

Before everything else, Minhyuk checked the details of the Sky World’s Native Chicken.

(Sky World’s Native Chicken)

Ingredient Grade: Medicine

Special Effects:

•Additional 4% increase in both physical and magical attack.

•Additional 5% increase in total HP and MP volume.

Description: This is a tasty native chicken that has been raised in the Sky World and can instantly restore one’s vitality and energy upon consumption.

Although it could not rival a God-rank artifact, it could permanently increase one’s physical and magical attack, as well as their total HP and MP, which showed just how extraordinary the ingredient was.

Minhyuk began to cook. The first thing that he did was to soak the flat sweet potato noodles in cold water, before boiling the chicken once. After the chicken had boiled to some extent, he discarded the water. Then, he repeated the process and boiled the chicken once again. As the water started to boil once more, he added the sliced potatoes, sweet potatoes, and the soy sauce-based seasoning.

‘Spicy braised chicken and braised chicken are simple dishes but they taste really, really good.’

Eventually, the water started to boil down. When it came to braised chicken, Minhyuk personally preferred to have it on the sweet and spicy side. So, how should he make it spicy? It was simple. He only needed to chop some cheongyang peppers and add them to the boiling dish.

After letting it boil to some extent, he then added the soaked flat noodles from before. Adding the flat noodles would bring the flavor of the braised chicken to its peak, like a finishing touch of sorts.

Flat noodles were much thicker than regular noodles, so it would take more time to boil them. However, flat noodles could absorb more of the seasoning, which would retain more of the sweetness from the dish.

Minhyuk smiled happily as he finished cooking the braised chicken. The glossy and dark braised chicken with thick flat noodles that had completely absorbed the seasoning looked mouth-watering. Braised chicken did not need many side dishes. The dongchimi, covered with a sheet of ice, and the slightly purple pickled radish were more than enough.

The first thing that Minhyuk tasted was the icy-cold dongchimi. The moment the dongchimi touched his mouth, a cool, sweet and refreshing flavor immediately tickled his taste buds.

Then, he grabbed a thick and plump chicken leg. He had made sure to make cuts in the chicken before cooking the dish, ensuring that the seasoning would soak through its bones. Each and every single bite of the chicken truly was filled with flavor, the sweetness of the seasoning along with the spiciness of the pepper created a perfect harmony of flavor that spread in his mouth, along with the natural juices of the meat.

“Kghkkk…” With a small burst of admiration, Minhyuk picked up a huge mouthful of the flat noodles buried under the braised chicken’s sauce and transferred it to his small plate.

Minhyuk then put a spoonful of the still warm rice in his mouth before slurping some of the flat noodles on his plate. His taste buds were teased with sweetness the moment the well-seasoned flat noodles entered his mouth.

‘Kghhk! As expected, flat noodles are important when it comes to braised chicken.’

It was all because flat noodles could absorb more of the seasonings and the sauce compared to the chicken meat. On top of that, it had a chewy texture that many loved. As he ate the noodles, Minhyuk turned his chopsticks to eat some of the slightly purple pickled radish.

Crunch, crunch—

Through its sweet and sour flavor, the pickled radish instantly washed away any greasy aftertaste, leaving behind a refreshing feeling in one’s mouth.

This time, Minhyuk turned his attention to the chicken wings. It tasted perfect and all Minhyuk did was put it in his mouth, bite it, and then pull out its bones.

After eating the wings, Minhyuk scooped out the sweet potatoes that he had sliced and boiled together with the rest of the dish and placed it on his plate. A smile curled up at the corners of his lips the moment he cut off a part of the sweet potato and placed it in his mouth.

“The sauce is amazing in and of itself.”

Minhyuk scooped some of the dark sauce with his spoon and drizzled it on his rice. Then, he mixed everything evenly and put a huge mouthful in his mouth. The well-cooked rice and the fantastic sauce made him feel good and happy. There was a bright smile on his face after cleaning his plate.

At that moment, the notifications about the stats that he obtained from eating the Sky World’s Native Chicken rang in his ears. However, there was an additional notification that followed right after.

[The Sword of Aeon that Rumacar had hidden inside the cooking ingredient is now being revealed.]

“…?”

Minhyuk looked at the notification in confusion.

‘Why is a sword suddenly appearing from an ingredient?’

At the same time, a bright light burst out as the space in front of Minhyuk opened. A sword appeared from within, glowing in black light even through its sheath.

[The Continent Destroyer Sword is resonating!]

“…What the hell?”

Minhyuk was flustered. The weapon, the Continent Destroyer Sword, hanging around his waist was a god-rank weapon, yet it resonated with the sword that appeared in front of him. But it did not end with just that.

[The Continent Destroyer Sword temporarily loses its power in front of the greatest sword!]

“…!”

Minhyuk’s eyes grew wide. This was just like the weak bowing itself in front of the strongest and the greatest. To his horror, more notifications rang out.

[The Sacred Papal Sword is resonating!]

[The Sacred Papal Sword temporarily loses its power in front of the greatest sword!]

[The Slaughterer’s Armor is resonating!]

[The Slaughterer’s Armor temporarily loses its power in front of the greatest sword!]

[Great Demon Verus’ Mask…]

[Hepas’ Legendary Frying Pan…]

All of the artifacts in Minhyuk’s possession resonated with the sword. Minhyuk quickly checked the Continent Destroyer Sword, which had already started losing its momentum.

(Continent Destroyer Sword)

Rank: God

Requirements: Level 500 or higher, The One Brod has Acknowledged

Durability: ∞ / ∞

Attack: 1

Special Effects:

•The sword’s special effects are currently in a temporary sealed state.

“…”

Minhyuk could not help but groan when he saw this. The attack of the Continent Destroyer Sword was reduced to one. Even the special effects and abilities of the sword were all sealed. To put it simply, the sword had lost all of its power.

‘No way… don’t tell me that the sword will remain in this state…’

What kind of unexpected disaster was this?! Did Rumacar do this to take revenge before he died in his hands? Just when Minhyuk was about to shake from anxiety, a new set of notifications rang out.

[The Continent Destroyed Sword has started to regain its original power…]

[The Sacred Papal Sword has started to regain…]

[The Slaughterer’s Armor has started to regain…]

The shaking and resonating artifacts began to settle down one after the other.

‘Are you saying that all of these artifacts had been pushed back by the momentum of a single sword?’

This was truly shocking. In all his years of playing Athenae, he had not heard of something like this happening. After a brief moment, the artifacts in his possession regained their full power once again. It took around two minutes for each artifact to regain their strength.

After confirming that all his artifacts were fine, Minhyuk walked toward the Sword of Aeon that was floating in the air in front of him.

‘What in the world is this?’

The Continent Destroyed Sword and the Sacred Papal Sword were god-rank artifacts, of which only less than ten had been released and unearthed in all of Athenae. Of course, they were currently in a time when several god-rank artifacts were being discovered and released one after another in the world. But even so, each and every single one of these god-rank artifacts were still very valuable. To think these god-rank swords were showing fear towards this Sword of Aeon.

Minhyuk reached his hand out to grab the hilt of the sword.

[You have acquired the Sword of Aeon.]

[The Sword of Aeon is currently in a sealed state.]

[You will only be able to unlock the first seal of the Sword of Aeon after meeting the conditions.]

Minhyuk smiled as he muttered to himself after checking the conditions to unlock the first seal.

***

The Jade Emperor’s Envoy Viel’s expression looked very ugly.

“How dare that dreg of the continent say that to me. If it weren’t for you then I…”

Flames of fury blazed in Viel’s eyes as he glared at Heron and Ferro. If they did not step in then that bastard named Minhyuk would have already died a horrible death at his hands.

“The flames on the blade of his sword were very unusual. Yes, it would have been very easy to kill him. However, the process would be very troublesome,” Ferro said.

That was bullshit. Viel knew that he was more than enough to kill the dreg. However, Viel also knew that he would have to use plenty of his skills, and it would be likely that he would suffer during the process as well.

However, it was still a huge blow to their image since those from the other continent would view this as their ‘win’. While Viel was getting lost in his temper and did not know what to do, Ferro sighed.

“The opportunity will come soon.”

“…”

Only after hearing those words from Ferro did Viel finally calm down. Soon, they would recruit troops from the other continent to kill the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal. On that day, he would make sure to kill the man called Food God.

After that, they went for an audience with the Jade Emperor. When they saw the Jade Emperor, he was sporting a very unusual expression.

“What seems to be the problem?”

“The Sword of Aeon is now in the hands of the man named Food God.”

“What…?!!!”

All of the envoys were shocked. How did that happen? They could not help but groan when they heard from the Jade Emperor that the Sword of Aeon was hidden in a cooking ingredient.

“More importantly, are you saying that he chose food over an artifact? Does that mean that he’s a god that likes to eat?” Daoist Heron smiled bitterly.

They did not really care that much, rather, they were more than happy at this outcome.

“Anyway, he would not be able to use that sword. Am I right, my Lord?”

After all, even Rumacar could not use that sword.

The Jade Emperor nodded. “No one has been able to unlock the first seal of the Sword of Aeon for thousands of years.”

The Sword of Aeon was sealed by the great and noble heroes of the past because they feared its power.

“What are the conditions for unlocking the first seal?”

“The condition is simple but it is very difficult to achieve. Basically, one has to inject the mana of the era’s strongest in the sword. Of course, they have to be recognized and acknowledged by the Sword of Aeon.”

“The strongest as recognized by the Sword of Aeon?”

“That’s right. You have to know that the sword will not even recognize a kingdom’s sword master.”

Viel grinned. If that was the case, then all he needed to do was to snatch the Sword of Aeon from the Food God and go to the other continent to kill their strongest and get their mana. As it turned out, it was a very good thing. After all, someone else found the sword, whose whereabouts were unknown, for him.

“Have you been watching the idiot?”

The Jade Emperor nodded.

“I would like to watch him too.”

Viel wanted to see the man run around wildly, unable to lift the seal of the Sword of Aeon.

“We won’t be able to watch him for some time. The Absolute Gods of the other continent hate to see those that try to interfere with the people living in the land under their control.”

Clouds slowly rose in front of the Jade Emperor at his words. Then, the clouds slowly parted showing the figure of the man named Food God.

“However, there’s something that I found strange.”

“What do you mean? What’s strange?” Viel looked at the Jade Emperor in confusion.

“Right. When that man saw the conditions for lifting the first seal, he said…”

“…”

“…’Isn’t this very easy? Freaking amazing.’ I don’t know what freaking amazing means though.”

“Keuhahahahahahaha!” Viel guffawed.

The condition was to inject the mana of the strong recognized by the Sword of Aeon. Yet, he was saying that it was easy? It was obviously because the guy was full of arrogance and false bravado. Fulfilling that condition was impossible unless one did it like Viel intended, killing the strong and taking away their mana.

Then, the Food God, who was leisurely walking down the street and munching on some chicken skewers, opened his mouth and spoke.

[Obren, can you come out for a bit? Wake up and put some of your mana in this sword, please.]

At the same time, an unknown and mysterious seasoning jar appeared. Then, a dark-haired handsome man with a frown marring his face also appeared.

[When will you bring Aruvel’s new work? The Creaky Magic Bed and the Girl Volume 2? Don’t you know how boring it is inside the seasoning jar?]

[Woah, woah. Calm down. Aruvel is doing his best in writing the second volume. Also, cut it off with those erotic novels. Look at your bloodshot eyes.]

[I’m going to tell you this because you’re very clueless. The story is about a beautiful genius girl, who is slowly losing interest in the world. Her sweat drips down her skin as the magic bed creaks every single day. That sound… the peak… and the feeling of going even higher than the peak of pleasure… Hooo…!]

The dark-haired handsome man exhaled shakily as if he felt extreme pleasure just by imagining the scene.

The envoys, who watched the scene with the Jade Emperor, looked at the man in confusion.

‘He’s going to ask someone like that to put their mana inside the sword?’

‘That uncivilized trash that gets off of erotic books?’

‘Ridiculous.’

Then, the dark-haired handsome man placed his hand on the sword and said…

[Give me volume 2 as soon as possible. I trust you.]

[Eyyy. Haa… Alright. As expected of PervBren.]

[The Sword of Aeon recognizes the Evil that subdued and took over an era!]

[He might be weaker but the Sword of Aeon still resonates in fear of the great Evil that had once brought fear to both man and god!]

[The Sword of Aeon has gone past acknowledging the man and is now trembling in fear!]

[The rate of completion for the lifting of the first seal has increased by 11%!]

“…?!”

“…?!”

“…?!”

Everyone looked at the scene in shock. Then, someone muttered, “That pervert…?”