Gourmet Gaming

[The Edea’s Allied Troops are deifying you.]

[Your divinity has increased slightly.]

“Waaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Minhyuk! Minhyuk! Minhyuk!”

Loud and hot cheers resonated throughout Edea.

Minhyuk cooked for a total of twelve days. The first ones that he cooked for and fed were the builders, trap installers, and the blacksmiths. After they had eaten the meal, they immediately went on to create a new fortress using the designs and blueprints provided by Golden Hammer Lant’s disciple Olger and the president of Ilhwa Construction Roadol.

After that, Minhyuk continued to cook, producing large batches of high grade dishes in those twelve days.

[You have made more than thirty legendary grade dishes.]

[You have achieved the Easter Egg: Continuously Creating Something and Achieving Something that Even the Gods Could Not Do.]

[You have created 31 legendary grade dishes, 864 epic grade dishes, 18,413 unique grade dishes, 201,346 rare grade dishes.]

[As a reward for obtaining an easter egg, the buff effects of the dishes that you made since you started cooking for this period, whether they have been consumed or not, will be 15% better.]

It was a stroke of good luck. It was as if to cheer Minhyuk on by improving the buff effects of the dishes after he finished his twelve-day nonstop cooking fiesta.

Minhyuk looked at the residents of Edea, who were cheering loudly around him. In a few days, the players that had been recruited by the Jade Emperor would come to this continent.

“Make sure that you accomplish it.”

“Please be safe and come back soon.”

Minhyuk was now ready to go to Hell.

‘The Sword of Aeon.’

He wanted to lift the Sword of Aeon’s second seal. A war was about to break out, but he had to leave.

‘If I succeed in lifting the Sword of Aeon’s second seal, then it will definitely be a huge variable that can change the tide of this war.’

The high rankers had definitely analyzed Minhyuk and planned several countermeasures to his powers. Besides, Minhyuk was the player with the highest level. This meant that he had little to no improvement just by leveling up alone. After all, it would take a lot for someone at his level to increase his level by one.

However, once the second seal of the Sword of Aeon was lifted, Minhyuk could become the biggest variable in this war.

That was not all. There was also another reason for him to unseal the Sword of Aeon.

‘If can lift the Sword of Aeon’s second seal, then I might be able to confront the Jade Emperor’s envoys.’

Minhyuk was the commander and the leader of the allied forces. He was the one that had to deal with the Jade Emperor’s envoys. However, with how he was right now, victory might just be a pipe dream. Before Minhyuk came to Edea, he had asked Ascar for a parchment that would grant him access to Hell.

Riiiiiip—

A huge door, with an unknown skeleton above, appeared in front of him after he ripped the parchment apart.

Vwooooooooooong—

A dark, stale wind blew out of the door when he opened it. However, just as he was about to step inside, Obren suddenly appeared from the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. Minhyuk looked at Obren in confusion.

However, the dark-haired handsome Obren said, “I have something else to do.”

These past few days, Minhyuk had seen Obren and Xuanzang talk. Perhaps that was the reason for his departure. If he were to be honest, Minhyuk wanted Obren by his side on the journey to Hell, which showed how much the young man relied on the Evil God.

“I’m worried.”

Obren was very worried. The two of them might be bickering every single day but they truly cared for each other.

“If, by any chance, you feel that you’re in danger, then…”

“What are you going on about?”

Obren shook his head before Minhyuk could even finish his words.

“The thing that I’m going to do is for my sake. What do you mean by dangerous, huh?” Obren smiled arrogantly. “I am the Evil God.”

Evil God Obren had threatened the entire human race in the past.

Minhyuk smiled bitterly. “Right. I understand.”

Xuanzang was a man with a strange power. Originally, Obren could not roam around outside the seasoning jar and could only go somewhere in the vicinity of the jar after he awakened. However, the power of Buddhist Monk Xuanzang made it possible.

Minhyuk turned around and entered the Hell’s Gate, while Obren walked in the opposite direction. Then, Obren stopped in his tracks.

“Minhyuk.”

“…”

This was the first time that Obren had called him by his name. Usually, he would call Minhyuk, ‘Hey, stupid idiot’ or something along those lines.

When Minhyuk turned back to look at him, he saw Obren opening and closing his mouth repeatedly. Then, a small smile bloomed on the handsome man’s face.

“Don’t get hurt.”

“You too.”

Obren stood next to Xuanzang as he watched Minhyuk enter the Hell’s Gate, his eyes lingering on the place where the young man had disappeared from for a very long time.

***

Special Players Management Team.

Team Leader Park Minggyu’s expression was complicated as he watched Minhyuk and Obren go on their separate paths.

“No way. I never expected Xuanzang to propose something like this.”

It was just like what Xuanzang had said, the Jade Emperor was the tenth Absolute God. However, since he was in a different world from the other Absolute Gods, his existence was not widely known.

If Xuanzang and Obren’s plans truly came to fruition, then Obren would probably become the newest addition to the Absolute Gods.

“The one that’s beside a player, becoming an Absolute God…”

It was quite a scary thought. Of course, on the other hand, it could also be considered a pretty interesting development. However, there was still some time left before it could happen.

For now, Team Leader Park had to focus on something else. Player Minhyuk had crossed the gates of Hell.

“The God of Death is the most vicious and stubborn among all of the gods.”

“That’s correct.”

So far, Minhyuk had always forged friendships and connections with all of the people that he met through his journey. The prime example of this was the Battle God, someone that initially did not like and even opposed Minhyuk. However, since then, he had Minhyuk become his successor, and was even one of his staunch supporters and firm believers.

However, the God of Death was different. It was probably impossible for Minhyuk to make friends with him.

“Team Leader, there’s something that I’m worried about.”

“What is it?”

“Among the God of Death’s blessings, there’s a blessing that can enhance and reinforce weapons, right?”

“…!”

Team Leader Park’s eyes grew wide when he realized this problem. That was right. The God of Death had a great power that allowed him to succeed in reinforcing any kind of weapon without fail. This was a power that was only given to three of the most outstanding gods. It was one of the Origin Authorities, ‘The One that Advances.’

“If the Sword of Aeon received a +3 because of The One that Advances, then…?”

Team Leader Park’s mouth turned dry. It had not happened yet. He had to focus on his work first. By the time they were about to clock off, Park Minggyu suddenly grew curious about Minhyuk’s location. So, he turned to Lee Minhwa and asked, “Where’s Player Minhyuk now?”

“Please wait a moment.”

Tap, tap, tap—

After a few taps, Lee Minhwa looked up at the monitor to check the situation. Her eyes then grew wide from shock. “He, he’s in the Barren Land.”

“The Barren Land…?”

The Barren Land was a very dangerous place in Hell. However, there were surprising things to eat in this dry and barren land.

“Wasn’t Hella in that place…?”

Hell had a character called Hella. Who was she?

“That’s right. The God of Death’s sweetheart is there.”

***

What would people think whenever they heard the word ‘Hell’? Most people would think that it was a dry, barren land where the dead lived, a place that was worthy of fear. Some would also imagine a place that was filled with decaying corpses and scattered skeletons, emitting a rotten stench. There was no one in the world who would think of something nice when they heard the word ‘Hell.’

There was a consistent and common theme all throughout Hell. It was death. No crops, trees, grass, or even weed would grow in Hell. The only things that existed in Hell were the rotten and the dead. The reason was this special dry and cracked land, a place so dry that it was called the Barren Land. There were four Sin’s Ingredients hidden inside the Barren Land.

The Sin’s Ingredients were all buried deep underground. They were the reason for Hell’s nigh-uninhabitable environment. Monsters from Hell would often resort to eating each other or drinking rotten and contaminated water.

Hella, the first God of Farming, was located in this very same Barren Land.

The first God of Farming had given up her seat to her successors way back, so she could take a rest. In fact, it was such a long time ago that she could not even remember when exactly it happened. She had come to Hell in hopes of changing this place. The beings living in Hell obviously wanted to eat fresh crops and healthy livestock too. That was why she had hoped to make it happen.

However, it had already been hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years since she came here to dig the Sin’s Ingredient out of the ground.

Crack—!

Thud, thud—!

Baaaaaaaang—!

Hella dug the ground around the Sin’s Radish that was buried deeply in the ground. However, even though she was working hard, she had remained unsuccessful for thousands of years in her endeavor. That was even considering the fact that Hella used to be the God of Farming.

First and foremost, the conditions to dig up the ingredients were far too demanding. If one’s hoe touched even just a part of the Sin’s Radish, the harvesting rate would plummet to 0%. In other words, even if one had already reached 80% harvesting rate, they would return to 0% if they touched the Sin’s Radish by mistake during the process.

That was not all. The soil that surrounded the Sin’s Radish would also move to squeeze the radish deeper the moment anyone started to dig it out. If one could not overcome the squeezing rate for a certain amount of time, the harvesting rate would return to 0% after twenty seconds.

Hella had not been able to make any progress even after working hard for thousands of years.

Thuuud—!

Hella wore a straw hat and a cotton coat, items usually worn by farmers, and tried her hardest to dig the ingredient to the point that she was covered in mud. Even though she was wearing what farmers usually wore, her beauty could not be hidden. It was comparable to that of Saintess Loyna. However, despite her beauty and hard work, the time was still up and the ground had started to cover the radish once again.

‘I will never give up!’

Hella had been doing this for thousands of years. However, she had never given up even once.

‘The promise that I made with him… I will make sure that I will keep it!’

“It will only be possible if I can harvest this Sin’s Ingredient but…”

However, for her to be able to dig out the rest of the ingredients, she had to first harvest the Sin’s Radish in front of her. After all, the main role of the Sin’s Radish was to prevent others from digging the other ingredients.

‘If only I have a higher DEX…’

The problem was Hella’s DEX. Just because she was once the God of Farming did not mean that she had extremely high DEX. Of course, Hella had been digging this radish for thousands of years. That constant, repetitive action would have definitely increased her DEX at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, Hell was a land where the dead lived, and the dead could not grow. That was the reason why she had been stuck in this place for that long.

With a bitter look on her face, Hella headed toward a cottage not far from where she was digging.

“Someday…”

‘I will be able to do it.’

Maybe it would take forever, but she believed she would be able to do it.

***

How long had she been asleep? Hella did not know. She stretched her body as she slowly got up in a mechanical fashion. True to her routine, she stood up once again to dig up the Sin’s Radish that she had not harvested and perhaps would not be able to harvest for thousands of years more to come.

She grabbed her hoe and headed toward the Barren Land. However, when she arrived there, Hella could not help but tilt her head in confusion. There was a delicious and tantalizing smell wafting from somewhere, one that she had never once experienced in her thousand years of living in Hell.

Hella’s eyes suddenly grew wide after walking for quite some time. “Heok…?!”

She could see that the Sin’s Radish had disappeared. Not too far from the place where the radish had been buried was a man sitting in front of a table and eating something.

“Kyaaa. Beef and radish soup is best paired with rice, no? Of course, that’s right. Keuhahahahahaha!”

“Wh-what…?”

Hella could not hide her confusion.

‘That is impossible, right? There is no way that the radish on the man’s spoon that he is bringing to his mouth is the Sin’s Radish, right?’

Then, her train of thought continued.

‘Did…did he make beef and radish soup using the Sin’s Radish?!’