Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 241: Prince Argon and the Royal Shop

A notification rang loudly as countless large guilds entered the A-rank area in Elvenheim.

[Take back the land that has been taken away by the demonic race.]

[If you succeed in recapturing the land and defending it for two days, then you will become the master of the land that you have protected and your contributions will increase sharply.]

The notifications were easy to interpret. In other words, it was a structure that promoted competition between the large guilds.

Guilds began to enter Elvenheim’s A-rank area. Meanwhile, Callian, the guild master of Iris Guild, and Ares, the guild master of Ares Guild, formed an alliance. Through their alliance, they were able to conquer about three small villages and towns. They were fighting a defensive battle in order to gain a stronghold between Elvenheim and the Elven Forest.

Callian and Ares were both grinning widely.

“As expected,” Callian said, making Ares nod.

Callian and Ares were both served humble pie by Legend Guild. In the case of Callian, he suffered from failure when he faced off against Legend Guild during the God Juis disaster event. In Ares’ case, he suffered failure when he tried to capture King Varen and faced off against Legend Guild.

Right now, they were both ahead of the other guilds, and had been so for quite a long time now. After all, the other guilds only had one territory currently. They were also able to get an opportunity to reach their goal faster thanks to the ‘Elven Shop’.

Elven Shops appeared not only in Elvenheim, but also in other villages, towns, big cities and territories all over the continent. The Elven Shops were created due to the war’s outbreak and would only be available to players that had accumulated enough contribution points.

On top of that, once the players entered Elvenheim, they were restricted from using the usual consumable items they had with them. The only consumables that they could use were those created in Elvenheim, like elven potions, elven parchment, elven food and even rare elven artifacts.

Right now, Ares and Callian were both able to discover a special purchase from a High Elf woman that stayed in one of the towns they recaptured.

[Elven Shop Upgrade.]

[100,000 war points.]

The woman's name was Ruby.

Callian and Ares had guessed that Joy Co. Ltd. had set up high contribution points as a reward for having more territory, or perhaps having excessive luck to get something special. Their guilds had been extremely lucky, but they also had good defenses. Because of this, they found a way to get ahead of the other guilds faster. They believed that if the ranking of the shop increased, they would be able to get something better for the war.

“Ruby. I’m buying the Elven Shop’s Upgrade.”

“You need to exchange 100,000 war points for the Elven Shop’s Upgrade.”

“Here’s the 100,000 points.”

“You’ve worked hard to save us elves. Thank you.”

Having that many war points meant that they had hunted many demonic races.

Then, the notifications rang.

[You have purchased the Elven Shop’s Upgrade.]

[Your Elven Shop will be upgraded to Rank C. Callian and Iris Guild will have a 10% discount in the Elf’s Shop.]

[You can purchase more special items in Rank C.]

Callian grinned widely before rushing to check the Elven Shop.

“…!”

His smile became even brighter after seeing that the items sold in the shop became even better than before. Previously, the ‘Elven Arrow of Life’ was only sold in limited quantities, but now, it could be purchased in the thousands per transaction. Surprisingly enough, the arrow had an additional 15% increase in attack power and a 20% increase in critical hit rate when facing demonic races.

That was not the end of his surprise. Although many of the items were still limited in quantities, there were countless things that were now available in the Elven Shop. There was even the Elven Water of Life which could temporarily increase the attack power against the demonic race by 15%.

Iris and Ares Guild had a little more than a hundred members. What would happen if each and every one of them gained a 15% increase in attack power? They could easily pull far ahead of the other guilds.

Then, Callian heard another notification.

[The Elven Shop Upgrade’s price has increased.]

[300,000 war points.]

‘Expensive…’

It was not easy for them to gain contribution points. He was only able to gather 100,000 war points after almost exhausting his individual war points. Thanks to his individual and guild war points, they were now significantly ahead of the others.

Just then, Callian suddenly felt curious. He asked, “What is the highest rank?”

***

Meanwhile, Legend Guild was also able to gain a town. With that, Genie was also able to meet the Shop NPC, Remin.

Genie tilted her head as she looked around the shop.

[Do you want to upgrade the Elven Shop?]

[50,000 war points.]

‘Oh?’

Then, she immediately checked the information.

[Elven Shop’s Ranks: The Elven Shop would start at rank E. However, it is possible to upgrade your shop to a better and great store if you continue to make contributions. The rankings are divided into D, C, B, A and Royal. Three days after the Rank C store opens, the upgrades that can be purchased will be available in all of the NPC shops in every village and town. If you have a special NPC shop in your town or village, you may be able to increase your ranking by that time.]

“So, you can also use your points like this.”

The privilege that was granted to her store was to gain access to information in advance. This?

[Rank C: 100,000 points, Rank B: 300,000 points, Rank A: 600,000 points, Royal: 1 million points. In the case of a Royal Shop, there are only two hidden NPCs that can unlock the Royal Rank. In addition, once the Royal-Rank Shop opens, your 1 million war points will be returned to you.]

“Gasp!”

Genie was shocked.

‘One million war points are needed for the royal rank? What’s worse is that only the royal NPCs can open it?’

It was said that the Elf King and a prince were part of the royal elves, which meant the difficulty was already very high with just this requirement alone. Genie could easily deduce the meaning of the returning of the one million war points.

‘It’s literally impossible for an individual to gain one million war points to access the Royal Shop. This is clearly a privilege and is something meant to sober us up…’

Legend Guild was not performing very well since their numbers were significantly smaller than the rest of the guilds. Right now, they were even down by one person.

Then, Genie sent a message in the group chat to Ace.

[Guild Master Genie: Our Ace, where are you^^?]

[Guild Chat: I’m almost there. I’m taking some really strong people with me, so wait for me a little bit more~]

[Guild Master Genie: Okie dokie.]

She heard that he would bring strong and reliable people but she really did not expect much. However, she still believed that there would be a slight boost in their strength if they came.

***

(Map of the Immortals’ Land)

Restrictions: None

Description:

?It serves to show and indicate what is in each section of the Immortals’ Land. However, it cannot show the rewards list.

?The status of other players, their military troops and personnel as well as their scores while they are still in Immortals’ Land can also be viewed.

?The Map of the Immortals’ Land gives the owner the opportunity to check the rewards list once. This chance has already been used by the previous owner.

[All Talk Commander]

Unique Title

Title Effect: It has the power to make the soldiers or the players believe in your words even if you lie.

The map looked quite useful to Minhyuk. When he unfolded the map, he saw the things that were located in Zone 1 written clearly on it. He then turned his attention to his new title… It was literally a special title that Minhyuk had received after spouting those meticulously thought-out lies.

Then, Minhyuk saw the troops crying and laughing in front of him.

“Sob, sob, sob. Thanks to our commander, we can be here with you safely and without any worries. I’m so happy to be here with you.”

“Huhuhuhuhu!”

The Reapers and Iron Blood were all in tears. Just like what they had agreed upon, they all became a part of the Rice Supplement company.

“Sob, sob, sob, sob!?Ah! Great Minhyuk!”

“Minhyuk, long live!”

“Minhyuk, long live!”

That was right. They had all become a group of swindlers! Minhyuk pretended to be moved to tears as he started his charade.

“I can’t control my tears. They keep on falling down so I’ll go over there to calm myself down. Sob, sob, sob, sob!”

Minhyuk shed his tears just like that, but once he got out of their sight, a grin bloomed on his handsome face.

‘I’ll be in big trouble if someone asks for a bite, right?’ Minhyuk thought, smiling brightly before pulling out the chicken feet set that he had received after achieving 100% in commanding ability.

“Wow…”

Minhyuk admired the chicken feet for a while when he pulled the set out of his inventory.

‘The Spicy Chicken Feet Set that’s glistening red looks so beautiful. And there is even steamed egg?’

The steamed egg were different from the common ones that were cooked in an earthen pot. When he held and shook the plastic container that contained the steamed egg, it actually bounced and jiggled, looking extremely soft and elastic.

Then, Minhyuk looked at the ingredients right next to it. They were for making rice balls, and there were also some peach Julpis. Minhyuk quickly wore plastic gloves as he sprinkled the rice with sesame seeds. He then used pickled radish as fillings, before rolling it in seaweed.

“I’m a master craftsman in making rice balls!”

Just like what he said, Minhyuk’s skill in rice ball rolling was already at its peak. It could be considered art at this point. There were people that could not make half a ball of rice, or some that struggled to even make rice balls at all. However, Minhyuk could make it very pretty and round.

After making some rice balls, Minhyuk quickly picked up one reddish, shiny and glistening spicy chicken feet with his chopsticks before putting it in his mouth. He was chewing it easily and he could feel the sting in every bite. The flavor of the chicken feet was a little spicy but still tolerable. The flavor that first spread in his mouth was tinged with the delightful aftertaste of smoke and charcoal fire. After eating about three of them, he could not help but let out some breath from his mouth.

“Swiiip— Aaah.”

Mnhyuk’s tongue was tingling due to the spiciness. This time, he took a spoon and dug in the soft, jiggling steamed egg. With just a touch of the spoon, the steamed egg easily came out of the container. He could taste the soft and warm steamed egg. The taste of the steamed egg brought happiness and relief in his mouth.

Then, Minhyuk turned his attention toward the rice balls. With his hands wrapped in the plastic gloves, he brought the rice ball to his mouth. The salty seaweed, sesame seeds, and pickled radish blended to create a savory, yet sour flavor in his mouth.

After tasting everything, he quickly went back to his chicken feet. His forehead was already beaded in sweat after eating plenty of the chicken feet. However, the enticing flavor of the chicken feet had a magical temptation that would not allow him to stop eating them until they were gone.

At this time, there was one thing that he needed.

Glug, glug, glug—

Minhyuk quickly took out a glass filled with ice before pouring the Julpis in it. Then, he grabbed the glass and gulped down its icy, yet refreshing contents. His tingling tongue suddenly sizzled and calmed down.

After he finished everything, the notifications rang loudly in his ears.

[You have eaten the Food God’s Spicy Chicken Feet Set.]

[You gained 100,000 Contribution Points.]

“Oh?”

Minhyuk suddenly earned a significant amount of contribution points in one go.

After eating the spicy chicken feet set, Minhyuk opened the map of the Immortals’ Land once more to check its contents. There was a variety of information listed on the map. Just then, he noticed something at Zone 2 that caused him to tilt his head.

‘A red skull?’

In reality, such a figure represented ‘danger’ and ‘destruction’. Minhyuk clicked on it.

[You can’t have additional access. The rewards list has been checked already.]

[The previous owner had already checked all of the information.]

“…Hmm.”

Minhyuk tilted his head in thought. The previous owner was Bach, so he thought that he had already finished checking everything. With that, Minhyuk could not see that information, so the rest was left unconfirmed.

Minhyuk stood up and went back to his troops quickly.

It was time to finish taking over Zone 1 so they could move on to Zone 2.

***

“…”

Eclei was left speechless after coming back from his nap. It was because there was no one in sight. He felt a little strange standing alone in a place where the cold wind was blowing strongly. What was worse was that Bach was nowhere in sight. So he logged out.

The moment Eclei, or Lee Sung-Hae, logged out, he immediately picked up his phone to contact Bach, known as Lee Hyun-Woo in reality. However, before he could even do so, he already saw several text messages on his phone.

‘What’s this?’

When he finally realized the situation, Lee Sung-Jae could not help but feel flustered.

He found out that Bach was forced to log out by Minhyuk, and their troops had joined the Rice Supplement company. To make matters even worse, Hyun-Woo made a foreigner’s pledge. Right now, Hyun-Woo had no choice but to tell Emperor Asvon that he had died from a monster attack, whereas Minhyuk had taken over command of their troops.

Not long after, Sung-Jae called Hyun-Woo. His voice was filled with doubt and anger, since everything sounded so ridiculous to him.

“No. How can you do something like that!!!”

[I let my guard down. I never thought that he would have that skill. He had a skill that would momentarily make him invincible… If it wasn’t for that, then I’d definitely win.]

Hyun-Woo still thought that he had lost only by a narrow margin.

[He’s a rookie when it comes to fighting.]

“And yet you were killed by such a rookie?”

A moment of silence passed by between them. However, Hyun-Woo said to him not long after…

[That’s what happened… Now, I’m out of commission so I’ll have to depend on you, Sung-Jae. I still have a way to win.]

“A way?”

[Yes. Do you remember that red skull on the Map of the Immortals’ Land?]

“Yes. I remember.”

When Sung-Jae had asked Hyun-Woo about it, he seemed reluctant to reveal anything, and only said that it was a dangerous area.

[It’s a very dangerous area. I have checked the information there completely. It’s the land of the ‘Fallen Spirit King’, and hunting him can grant you two reward options.]

“What’s that?”

[First. It’s becoming a demonic human. By becoming a demonic human, you will get more powerful troops from the corrupted soldiers of the Fallen Spirit King. The second option gives you 400,000 Contribution Points and the Elven Heart. The Elven Heart is said to contain enormous power and can be used as a guild property. And there’s one more thing.]

Sung-Jae quietly listened.

[When you become a demonic human, the second reward will be transferred if someone hunts you.]