Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 142: Ballad’s Cup, Shabu-shabu

"...!"

Minhyuk was surprised after checking the satisfaction level! It had increased by 33% in a single go! Furthermore, it did not end there.

[Beanie is evolving.]

[Beanie is evolving.]

Beanie also ate a legendary dish! That meant that its EXP had increased significantly, causing it to evolve twice in a row! Just like before, Beanie’s body floated up as its body shined brightly.

'Will there be any changes with him this time?'?Minhyuk thought, as the bright light slowly faded away.

"Oink!"

"...Still the same."

Nothing changed in Beanie at all. Minhyuk rubbed his chin as he thought,?'Yeah. Maybe Beanie will only become a bigger pig if he grows up. Perhaps, it might be better if he remains as a baby piggy.’

With that thought in mind, Minhyuk checked Beanie's stat window.

(Beanie)

Rank: ???

Race: Pet

Level: 5

Attack: 514

Defense: 3,541

Summoning Duration per Day: 4 hours

Summoning Waiting Time: 20 hours

Special Abilities:

?It will immediately detect if there is a medicine nearby.

?Pet Owner’s attack will increase by 10%.

?Pet Owner’s defense will increase by 8%.

?Passive Skill: Instinctual Protection

?Can now equip two artifacts.

Condition for Growth: The more delicious the food the owner eats, the higher the EXP it gains and the higher the level it could evolve.

Potential: 184

Experience Value: 32% / 100%

The changes in Beanie included a 300-point increase in his attack, as well as a 200-point increase in his defense. Beanie’s summoning time had also increased by two hours, with an additional 8% increase in the Pet Owner’s defense. However, the most surprising change in Beanie was…

'Can equip two artifacts?'?Minhyuk thought. He had heard that there were cases where pets could wear artifacts.

Then, Minhyuk turned to look at Juis as she waved her hand in the air. Then, more notifications rang in Minhyuk’s head. It was the surprising notification about the catastrophe being lifted in the Northern Continent, as well as the EXP Acquisition Rate and Item Drop Rate increasing by 25% over the course of a month! A catastrophe might have passed over them briefly, but the players would eventually cheer for this end result. The 25% increase had literally become an event for all of the players in the Northern Continent. After that, the notification about the completion of Minhyuk’s quest finally arrived.

[Kingdom Quest: Make a Legendary Dish for Goddess Juis, Completed.]

[You can now eat Sushi made out of S-grade ingredients.]

[You will receive the Ballad’s Cup from Goddess Juis.]

Flash!

A bright light suddenly flashed in front of Goddess Juis. The light was so intense that Minhyuk could not help but cover his eyes instinctively from the blinding glare. Once the light faded away, a large golden goblet filled with water appeared in front of him. The cup was exactly as big as a pot.

“Fufufu!”

“...?”

Juis was confused when she saw Minhyuk grinning at the cup. He was even tilting his head from side to side as he looked at the cup.

‘Huh? Why is he tilting his head while looking at the cup?’

Juis also followed along and tilted her head side to side, before handing Ballad’s Cup over to Minhyuk.

[You have acquired one of the God’s Treasures: Ballad’s Cup.]

‘Yay! The size is just exactly what I want. With this, I can definitely...! Hehe!’

He would definitely be able to make that dish that went well with sushi! Minhyuk said, “Thank you very much, Goddess Juis! You’ll definitely be blessed with good fortune!”

Minhyuk bowed and expressed his gratitude. Juis smiled at Minhyuk and said, “I’m not yet done with bestowing you with gifts.”

“...?”

Minhyuk was confused. After all, he had already received all of his quest rewards.

***

[Goddess Juis’ satisfaction has reached the maximum level.]

This was the notification that Park Minggyu, the Team Leader of the Special Players Management Team, had seen. This meant that Goddess Juis was extremely pleased right now.

Plenty of people had gathered in front of the monitor that Team Leader Park was looking at. There was only one reason! All of them were curious about the person that cleared the quest. Was it Player Minhyuk or was it Iris Guild? In all honesty, Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were silently rooting for Minhyuk in their hearts.

‘We’ve?been through hell and back these past few days because of what Iris Guild did!’

In the first place, this entire farce was the plot and drama that Iris Guild had created themselves. The disaster was something that happened because of the drama that Iris Guild created. Due to the whole fiasco, the employees from the Special Players Management Team and the other departments were not able to leave their posts. However, Minhyuk easily solved it, unlike Iris Guild that failed to clear their quest. This was the first time that Minhyuk looked handsome in the eyes of Team Leader Park.

“This is a problem,” President Kang Taehoon suddenly said.

“Goddess Juis is a god that is very free and liberal.”

Typically, gods had more freedom in terms of what they could and could not do compared to ordinary NPCs. Whether in terms of what they could give, what they could increase, or what they could curse, the gods had looser restrictions on whatever they did. Because of that, whatever happened next might be a problem for them. After all, Goddess Juis, the freest of them all, was very satisfied.

‘Does she really want to give Minhyuk additional compensation?’

Ballad’s Cup, which Minhyuk had already received, was a medicine of incredible power that no medicine could ever compare. Its estimated price would amount to billions of won.?Athenae?was not just a simple game anymore. It had now almost become a part of everyone’s daily routine. For the sake of rare and powerful artifacts, the world’s richest would spend millions to billions of won just to acquire them. The estimated price of such an item was only in the billions, but considering the rarity of the item and the competition between bidders, it would probably go for more than twice as much if it was put up in an auction.

At that moment, Goddess Juis finally spoke.

[I’m not yet done with bestowing you with gifts.]

Worry and concern could be heard from the voice of Goddess Juis, as if she was worried that Minhyuk would not like what she would give. Not long after, an item appeared on Juis’ hand.

President Kang Taehoon’s eyes widened in disbelief as he shouted, “Pandora’s Helmet!!!”

“Gasp!”

Surprised voices came from the members of the production team, while Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa looked at them in confusion. Both of them were unaware of the artifacts since their department was not in charge of them. There were hundreds of millions of artifacts available in?Athenae. In fact, even the production team that was in charge of these artifacts still needed to look for information, because they did not know a thing about this particular artifact at all.

“Is it something great?”

“It…It’s really great! It’s an artifact that can?never?be bought with money and it’s also a legendary item!”

“...!”

Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were quite shocked when they heard his words. In the end, Team Leader Park could only sigh. He said, “What…he already has three legendary artifacts by himself...”

“In a way, he has four.”

He had Hepas’ Legendary Frying Pan, the Armor of Immortality, Pandora’s Helmet, and Rumad’s Demon Greatsword that he sold. In fact, Minhyuk had already sold Rumad’s artifact, and had received the equivalent amount for a legendary artifact.

“Take a look at his expression...” Kang Taehoon murmured to himself as he continued to look at the monitor.

Minhyuk finally opened his mouth after receiving the item.

[Thank you. I’ll use it well. I’m really happy!]

“Ack!”

“Ugh!”

The reason why everyone was surprised was because Minhyuk’s expression was screaming something along the lines of?‘Well, I guess I got another item!’?before he quickly turned around to leave.

***

“Thank you. I’ll use it well. I’m really happy!”

“Wa…wait...!” Juis shouted. She was a little confused.

‘Wait? What did I mean by wait?’

She was obviously grateful to Minhyuk since he satisfied her with exceptional food. It was the food that she could only eat once a year! Since the food was truly delicious, she had decided to give him the helmet just so she could repay this favor.

However, Minhyuk had looked at it with a sullen expression on his face. He thought,?‘Eyy. I thought she was going to give me something to eat!’

If Juis knew what was going on inside Minhyuk’s head, she would totally think that he was sick in the head. However, Minhyuk still appreciated the gift that?Juis?had given him. However, he had a place that he had to hurry to, so he wanted to leave quickly.

Minhyuk wanted to quickly go where Rald was! His skin had been rotting, and Minhyuk knew that he could definitely be cured now, so he wanted to hurry and cure him just so he could eat that delicious sushi! ?He tried to quickly leave, but?Juis?stopped him from leaving.

Minhyuk hurriedly turned his head to look at her with a curious expression on his face and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“N…nothing... Th…that… are you not going to check that?”

“Eyy. I can do it later when I have the time.”

“Wh…when you have the time?” Juis asked dumbly. For a brief moment, she wanted to take back the item from him. However, what could she do? She had already given it away.

“Aren’t you happy? Since I, a god, have given you another gift because I’m grateful to you?”

Juis highlighted her existence as a god. It was as if she was asking him to praise the gift that she had given him. Minhyuk looked down at the item in his hands and replied to her with a voice that clearly lacked the luster of excitement. He said, “I have received a reaaaaaa~lly great gift. Ah, I’m really happy!”

“...”

“But, I’m busy. Aren’t you really busy too?”

“Huh? Y…yeah? But, wouldn’t it still be better for you to check it out?”

Right now, Juis was already blatantly telling him to check it out. Minhyuk had no choice but to cater to her wishes, all while saying?‘Ah, that’s right, gods are all really busy.’.

(Pandora’s Helmet)

Rank: Legendary

Requirements: 200 INT, 200 WIS, 400 Holy Power

Durability: 10,000 / 10,000

Defense: 741

Special Effects:

?Holy Power x2

?All of your skills’ Cooldown will be reduced by 20%.

?All of your skills’ Required Mana will be reduced by 20%.

?Skill: God’s Targeted Praise.

Description: This was the helmet that?Juis?had used in the past. This helmet contains a tremendous amount of holy power as well as an infinite variety of hidden abilities.

Minhyuk also did not forget to click on and check the attached skill.

(God’s Targeted Praise)

Artifact Skill

Level: None

Mana Required: 500

Cooldown: 1 week

Penalty for Use: -2 on all basic stats

Effects: ?After using Praise, the player can bestow their holy power upon a single person for 30 minutes. It can only be given to a person without a shred of holy power.

Description: Two points from each of your five basic stats will be considered as a sacrifice to the gods. This will allow your targeted party to have the same holy power stat as the holy power stat that you possess.

It was not a bad skill. In other words, after consuming two points from all five of his basic stats, Minhyuk’s targeted party would have the same holy power stat as himself for 30 minutes. This was the reason why Juis wanted him to check the artifact so badly earlier.

“I checked it! Please take care!” Minhyuk said, bowing politely before leaving.

Juis could see that he was not as happy as she thought he would be. Then, Juis mumbled as she watched Minhyuk’s disappearing back, “A disaster will befall us once again…?”

***

Warm light seeped through Rald’s rotting body. The light healed him and washed away the disgusting rot away from his body. He thought,?‘The foreigner succeeded…’

An amazing person! After all, that person created a legendary dish, something that he was not able to create. To think that it was even a foreigner that made the dish!

Varen had visited him a while ago and told him that he promised the foreigner something. He said,?‘I promised him that we will serve him sushi made with S-grade ingredients.’

Rald nodded in agreement. It was an appropriate reward for the person that worked hard for their kingdom! It was now the perfect time for them to show him their gratitude.

Then…

Knock, knock, knock.

…the sound of knocking rang loudly in the room.

“Is someone in there?”

“...Who’s there?”

“I’m the foreigner named Minhyuk.”

‘Ah...!’

That person! The amazing chef that created a legendary dish!

“Please come in.”

As soon as he came inside, Minhyuk looked at Rald with undisguised anticipation. His eyes were even sparkling so brightly as he looked at Rald with happiness. Minhyuk asked, “Hello? Are you feeling better?”

“Ah, yes,” Rald said, trying to sit up. Minhyuk hurriedly went to his bedside to help him.

“I heard that His Highness had promised to serve you the best sushi.”

“That’s right. However, your body might only be starting to feel better, so it’s fine! It’s really fine. Even if I’m starving right now, it’s fine! I was supposed to eat that sushi a long time ago, but it’s alright! Are you really alright?”

“...”

Rald knew that his words and expression were contradicting. His expression was saying something along the lines of…?‘Please do it now, if you don’t do it now, then I’ll make you do it.’.

“...N…no. It’s fine. Let’s go to the restaurant immediately since it has been delayed for quite some time.”

“Ah! If you insist. Hahaha. There’s nothing I can do about it. After all, it’s quite rude to say no,” Minhyuk quickly agreed as if the word refusal was not in his dictionary at all.

Then, he leaned in and sneakily whispered to Rald. He said, “Ah. Wait. There’s something I really want to eat with sushi and coincidentally, I also received a pot from Goddess Juis. Do you happen to have the ingredients on hand...?”

‘He received a pot from Goddess Juis? Do gods have pots too?’

“Is that so? May I know what kind of food you’re going to eat?” Rald asked.

Rald saw the foreigner named Minhyuk’s face brightened at his question. Minhyuk was smiling brightly just by thinking about the food that he wanted to eat.

“It’s shabu-shabu!”