Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 1079

Bender’s Heaven Destroyer was named as such because it could kill even the heavens. This was not something that he penned himself. Those who had witnessed his outstanding force started calling his power “Heaven Destroyer” one day. Bender naturally used the name and divided his Heaven Destroyer into several chapters.

‘The Heaven Destroyer that I have experienced firsthand is ridiculously strong.’

It was so strong and outstanding that Minhyuk’s Food God’s Swordsmanship completely paled in comparison.

‘If my Food God’s Swordsmanship is an ordinary God-rank skill, then…’

The Heaven Destroyer was an Absolute God’s Secret level skill.

‘I might be able to combine it with my Food God’s Swordsmanship?’

After dying three thousand times under Bender’s hands, Minhyuk’s understanding of his Heaven Destroyer swordsmanship and skill had increased to 35%. Nevertheless, according to the notifications, he “might” only be able to combine them. Still, the potential opened up for him brought Minhyuk incredible delight.

“Then, shall we do it properly this time?”

When Bender felt the coldness from Minhyuk’s gaze, he thought, ‘His momentum changed?’

Although Minhyuk had kept on dying earlier, he looked like he might be able to win now. Minhyuk was pointing at his sword with his arrogant and majestic emperor’s gaze, causing Bender to feel nervous.

“Finally!”

“...?”

Suddenly, Minhyuk crouched down and dragged a table out, as he began preparing for a meal. And what he took out was none other than the Beef Galbi-jjim Across All Eras.

***

(Beef Galbi-Jjim Across All Eras)

Grade: God

Requirements: The one who received the recognition of the God of Cooking.

Special Abilities:

•Acquire 350 Special SP.

•Increase three of your chosen stats by 1%.

•Acquire 1 God’s SP.

•Acquire 1 Authority Growth Point(GP).

Buff Abilities:

•Recover HP and MP to 100%.

•Reset all skill cooldowns.

•All stats will increase by 27%.

•Level up your chosen skill or authority once.

•Whether in the past, the present, or the future, no beef galbi-jjim will be as delicious as this dish.

•The buff duration is two weeks.

Description: God of Cooking Arlene made this beef galbi-jjim after overcoming her limitations. With the help of the other Absolute Gods, she completed this dish, which is now included in the Five Greatest Dishes Across All Eras.

This was a Dish Across All Eras that Arlene created during the competition with Minhyuk. Minhyuk originally planned to eat the dish during the battle with Helenia.

Surprisingly, the dish had a combination of permanent and buff abilities. He had planned to eat it when they were in danger while fighting Helenia. But what he expected did not happen, and he did not have the time to eat it.

Now, this dish would become another variable in the spar with Bender.

Minhyuk looked at the delicious feast on the table in front of him. There was beef galbi-jjim, hot rice, beef seaweed soup, and some seasoned vegetables.

‘This is the final boss of Korean dishes.’

Minhyuk smiled. He first sipped the beef seaweed soup to wet his dry lips before grabbing a piece of beef ribs. The beef galbi-jjim’s ribs were covered with thick meat and glossy sauce. The sauce dripping from the rib whetted his appetite and made him ecstatic.

Finally, Minhyuk took a big bite. The meat immediately separated from the bone, a testament to how well the ribs were cooked. Every bite of the meat made the juices spread in his mouth, making Minhyuk sigh in awe as a smile naturally curled at the corners of his mouth.

Minhyuk hurriedly scooped a mouthful of hot rice. Then, he began to eat his galbi-jjim in earnest.

Bender, who suddenly saw Minhyuk set up a table, looked at him in confusion while thinking, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Then, he said, “I’ll let you kill me if you just give me one bite…”

Minhyuk shook his head. “I’ll make something for you once we leave the training room.”

Bender’s head drooped like a depressed puppy. He was the strongest man across all eras, yet he was like this in front of food. Minhyuk did not care and just continued to eat.

After eating the galbi-jjim, he added the rice to the beef seaweed soup. The combination of well-ripened kimchi and the mixture of rice and the rich and flavorful seaweed soup was the perfect combination. Three bowls would not be enough if someone had this combination together! Minhyuk scooped a massive mouthful of the rice and seaweed soup and put it in his mouth. Then, he took a bite of some kimchi.

Crunch, crunch–!

“Kghhk!” Minhyuk moaned in admiration.

And just like that, he finished his meal. Immediately after that, he received notifications that he had acquired 350 special SPs. He was also notified that he could increase three of his chosen stats by 1%.

‘Doing repeated actions in this place can help me increase my DEX, understanding of my enemies, and resistance to abnormal statuses. Unfortunately, it does not increase my basic stats like STR and AGI.’

Minhyuk had been constantly increasing his DEX in this place. Now, he believed it was better to raise a stat that could help him beat Bender than increase another one that was completely unrelated to the task.

Minhyuk boldly invested 100 SP in STR, 150 SP in AGI, and 100 SP in STM. He also chose the three stats and increased them by 1%. This resulted in an increase of around 140 points in each of the three stats.

‘I think I have gotten around 10% stronger?’

Then, additional notifications rang.

[Please choose the skill or authority you want to level up.]

[Please choose the skill or authority you want to level up.]

And, of course, Minhyuk chose the God and Knight. He knew that the Origin Authority: God and Knight was impossible to level up. It wouldn’t matter how many or what kind of points he had; he could not level it up.

This time, the points that he got were what he got from the Dish Across All Eras.

[God and Knight has leveled up.]

Minhyuk grinned widely. His next choice was Calamity.

[Calamity has leveled up.]

There were also the buff effects. The buff effects increased all of his stats by 27%.

‘If I had eaten this during the battle, then I would have been able to witness a better effect.’

But unlike this spar with Bender, he did not have the time to be left alone to eat it during that battle. Eating it before a fight was much better, just like he did this time.

Minhyuk stood in front of Bender. “Now that I’m full, shall we try it again?”

Minhyuk did not say anything like, ‘Be prepared.’ He just deliberately wore different armor to reduce the damage he would receive.

***

Bender thought that Minhyuk was just trying to use all of his strengths.

‘I see. He must have made himself stronger by eating a buffed dish.’

He believed that it was nothing more than that. Of course, Bender was aware that Minhyuk’s dishes were excellent. Nevertheless, his dishes could only increase his strength by 1.3x.

That was why Bender did not pay much attention to what he was doing. Besides, he also had quite a lot of power that could help him increase his power significantly. In response to Minhyuk’s move, Bender immediately activated such a power.

[Transcendental’s Will.]

Everything Bender possessed increased by around 20% upon activation of Transcendental's Will. At the very least, he believed that his increase in power was as much as the increase in Minhyuk’s power after he had eaten his buffed dish.

“Please, let’s get this over with.”

Bender no longer wanted to do this ridiculous training anymore. He just wanted to end everything. Rather than dying in a battle, he wanted to give up. He was already very tired of continuously killing Minhyuk.

With a gentle swing of his sword, Bender stabbed Minhyuk.

“...?”

To his surprise, Minhyuk easily evaded his attacks. Seeing this, he launched successive attacks to put pressure on Minhyuk.

‘What?’

Yet Minhyuk was able to get away from him quickly and easily. Bender twisted his wrists and changed the trajectory of the sword. This time, the sword aimed for Minhyuk’s neck.

Clang–

Minhyuk was able to block Bender’s sword.

‘H-he moved faster than me and block my attack?’

Indeed. Minhyuk moved faster than Bender. He had already raised his sword even before Bender’s sword could reach his neck. He moved so fast as if he had foreseen the 0.1 seconds in the future.

Minhyuk quickly launched a series of attacks on Bender.

Bang–!

Lightning bolts fell from the sky and struck Bender. The moment they made contact with his body, his eyes could not help but grow wide.

“Th-the damage…!”

It was infinitely higher than before. In fact, it was 50% higher than earlier!

‘How?!’

Bender could not understand. Minhyuk might have eaten a buffed dish that strengthened his body, but there was something far more surprising.

‘How did he block all of my attacks?’

Bender could not understand how Minhyuk could block over 90% of his attacks.

It was not only Minhyuk’s damage that had increased. Even his speed, physical strength, and his skills had all grown far more impressive than before.

Clang, clang, clang–!

Minhyuk, who continued to block Bender’s attacks, laughed. “I can see it well.”

“???”

Minhyuk immediately narrowed the distance between him and Bender, who looked at him in confusion.

Sword of Frenzy.

Then, he stabbed him in the chest. Whenever Bender was attacked, he would always do something out of habit.

‘He would always sacrifice his body to land an attack.’

Minhyuk swiftly evaded Bender’s attack before narrowing the distance once again.

‘This time…’

Bender would use his elbows or knees to widen the distance between them. Minhyuk avoided the knee that went up to knock him down and evaded the elbow aimed at his chin. Then, after naturally evading the habitual movements, he held two swords.

He used the Dual Swordsmanship Technique while relying on the Black Dragon Armor he wore.

Crackle–!

Slash, slash, slash–!

“Ugh!” Bender groaned from the slashes and cuts that landed non-stop on his body. The bewildered Bender thought, ‘I don’t understand. What’s different this time?’

This change made his determination to win burn even brighter.

Bender was not a fool. Of course, he noticed something.

‘His understanding of me, his opponent, must have increased after dying three thousand times.’

Intrigued, Bender held back his laughter as he triggered the first chapter of the Heaven Destroyer that he had prepared.

The Heaven Destroyer was divided into several parts. As for the first chapter, it was a power that could instantly bring forth the Transcendental’s power into the sword and shoot out a whirlwind that would attack the enemy sixty times per second. That was not all; it could also deal a hundred blows upon the enemy in just a few seconds.

Crack–!

A huge force surged out. It crushed the ground as it shot toward Minhyuk.

“Absolute Defense.”

Minhyuk, who was already aware that Bender would use this power, activated his skills.

“Viel’s Puppet Doll. Ego Chain Sickle. Immortal Knight Order.”

Dozens of lights flashed around Minhyuk!

“And… Beans!”

“Oiiiink!”

In this spar, there was no restriction about summons. Bender acknowledged this fact and allowed it. After all, this was also part of Minhyuk’s power.

Thud–

Minhyuk grabbed Bender by the collar as the one-shot kill skills of the Immortal Knight Orders stabbed through the Transcendental. At this moment, Bender’s HP dropped below 70%.

‘He’s really a monster.’

Considering the power of the Immortal Knight Order members, the damage they had dealt upon Bender would definitely be very high. Even so, they could only cut down 30% of his HP. Alas, he was rapidly recovering from it.

Standing right next to Minhyuk, Beanie shook his bulging yet reliable stomach and swung his kitchen knife.

“Oiiiiiink!” Supreme Overlord’s Technique.

Crackle–!

A huge firestorm engulfed Bender. Meanwhile, Viel and the Ego Chain Sickle took advantage of the explosions and dug forward, attacking him constantly.

“Minhyuk.” Bender’s cold voice floated from beyond the flames. It was only his name, but it clearly told Minhyuk that he would definitely not let him off now.

“Yes, Bender.” Minhyuk pointed his long, slender fingers at him and said, “Overpower.”

Minhyuk chuckled after restricting Bender’s movements. Even though Minhyuk had died 3,000 times, he only wished to win once.

“Here comes Minhyuk’s one-shot kill skill!”

After eating the Beef Galbi-jjim Across All Eras, Minhyuk could level up his Calamity. But he was not yet satisfied with that. He also used the +1 level that the dish’s buff ability had given him on the same skill.

[Calamity’s level has temporarily increased by 1!]

“Transcendence.”

Black energy swirled all over his body, allowing him to transcend his limits several times. Of course, he also applied the Transcendence’s skill level increase to Calamity.

Crackle–!

Black wings covered with black flames surged out from the blade of Minhyuk’s sword. It looked very much like the Calamity that cut down Helenia before. The wings' feathers were all made of blades; their number almost reached 1,500.

At that moment, five black swords shot out and hit Minhyuk’s opponent unconditionally. Now that Bender was under the clutches of Overpower, all 1,500 blades of the wings made by Calamity would definitely hit him without fail.

Shwaaaaaaa–!

Calamity, a power that could guarantee Minhyuk’s victory, hit Bender.

***

Minhyuk had entrusted quite a lot of materials to Nekk. From what Nekk heard, all these materials came from Barbarian and Helenia. He was using them to either create something new or reinforce other items.

Minhyuk had also entrusted him with a sword named “Comrade.” This sword originally carried the name “Continent Destroyer Sword.” After listening to the story, Nekk realized that the man named Obren was no longer fused with this sword, and it was nothing but a shell of the sword “Comrade.”

Minhyuk not only wanted to make Comrade more outstanding, he also wanted his armor to reach the next level. It was not impossible to achieve something like that. After all, the drops that Helenia and Barbarian left behind were truly outstanding materials.

Now that Nekk had finished the artifact production design, he wanted to show Minhyuk the draft and ask about his opinion, so he headed straight toward the Training Room.

Shortly after he arrived, Bernie appeared. She said, “Minhyuk’s amazing too. I can’t believe he doesn’t look exhausted and helpless even after dying more than 2,000 times.”

“Yes, indeed. His hard work and efforts are truly…”

They had witnessed Minhyuk's tireless efforts and hard work in the past. Nevertheless, they still believed that there were things that one could not do even with all the effort in the world.

Of course, that was the victory in this match against Bender. Hundreds of Transcendentals had fought and sparred against Bender in this very same training room, yet none of them had gained even the upper hand against him.

The difference between Minhyuk and Bender was like the difference between heaven and earth.

Bernie, who was thinking like that, stepped inside the Training Room. The moment she entered, she could not help but raise her hands to her mouth and release a scream. “Kyaaaaaack!!!”

Puzzled by her reaction, Nekk hurriedly rushed to her side. When he looked inside, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

In front of their bewildered eyes, Bender was slumped against the wall and bleeding profusely.