Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

“Sometimes it will fall down on its own if you stack it wrongly.”

“Ah. I see.”

When the two people who were talking earlier turned their heads away from his direction, Brony finally breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Phew……’

Brony’s chest beat wildly as he shuddered in fear. He might have tagged the memories of that time as ‘Just a dark history, anyway…’ but it was still something terrible. Kang Minhyuk was a guy who would never let you go once he bit on you.

I can’t believe that bastard is in the Brethni Mines!

Then he paused.

‘But that bastard……’

He narrowed his eyes to look closely at his equipment.

He’s clearly holding a pickaxe in his hand.

The Brethni Mines was frequented by blacksmiths who were at most at Lv100 which meant that Minhyuk was not yet at Lv100.

And he also has a production job class!

‘However, I’m still not entirely sure about him.’

There were always exceptions to the rule.

He looked closely at the matured and grown-up Kang Minhyuk. He was about 10cm taller than his height back then and his face was a lot more matured.

‘Life’s not really fair but he looks really handsome.’

Brony had to, at least, admit to that one fact.

When he thought back on it, Brony had lost all contact with his classmates when he moved away and transferred schools. He did not know how and why it happened but it just did.

He also remembered what his father told him…

Don’t cause any friction with him.

But that was……

‘That’s in reality!’

Will the son of the Ilhwa Group CEO be out and proud that he got PKed in the game and publicly attack them? Of course he won’t. Besides, what if he really was just a production class user?

‘When will I ever step on him if not now!’

This wasn’t because Brony did not listen to what his father said!

Not long after, Brony left the Brethni Mines. Then, he drank another invisibility potion and checked the surroundings carefully. He also went into the other mines and listened to the miner’s conversations.

“I also saw that guy. The moment that I saw him, I thought that I should probably work harder. He can do bandaging, blacksmithing and even cooking, you know?”

“What an amazing friend!”

After listening to the miner’s stories and conversations he summed up everything and analyzed their topic.

‘Even if that person is a production class user, how did he have three skills related to dexterity? How did that happen? Ah, maybe he’s a hidden class user?’

A character who could learn more production skills compared to others. In other words, an easy to deal with hybrid character. After all, non-combatant users were considered to be weak. Even if they reached Lv100, their strength would only reach up to 70 compared to warrior class users.

Brony could see it…

‘Keuhahahahahaha! The day where I could step on Kang Minhyuk has come!’

He grinned widely as he looked forward to the day where he could trample on Kang Minhyuk.

***

Minhyuk continued to dig in the mines for two straight days without any considerable rest. His only reason was because he wanted to eat a more special chocolate!

However, no matter how much he tried, the turn out for the other minerals was just abysmally low. But he always thought possibly as he continued to dig iron ores. With his unwavering will, he finally saw a mineral that was shining with a golden light.

[You have acquired a gold ore.]

[You will be able to receive a special chocolate if you want to.]

“Ooooooooh.”

Ruan approached Minhyuk who was smiling widely.

“Heok……?! That, isn’t that a gold ore? Wow, this is much more expensive than iron ore!”

“Ah, really?! I, is that really true!”

“Of course. You can even buy an item with it……”

“Then I can eat something much more delicious?!”

“Yes?”

Ruan was taken aback with his question.

What is this guy saying?

Without him noticing anything, Minhyuk has already made a quick decision.

“I’ll get the special chocolate!”

Then, a small light flashed and the surface of the gold ore suddenly turned into a foil. Minhyuk hurriedly peeled off the foil. Then he saw it…

It was none other than the Crunch chocolate.

Crunch Chocolate!

It was chocolate with rice krispies inside of it.

“Heok. That, that’s a gold ore. Why did it become a chocolate…..”

“I got it from a quest.”

“N…… No, why would you even turn a gold ore into a chocolate!”

“Delicious chocolate is much better than having useless gold!”

“......”

Ruan had a look of defeat painted on his face while Minhyuk stuffed his face with the Crunch chocolate without even looking at the details.

The moment that he chewed on it he could feel the crisp and crunchy texture of the chocolate as the sweetness spread in his mouth.

“As expected, chocolate is really better than gold!”

The moment he finished eating the Crunch…

[You have achieved the Hidden Piece: True Chocolate Miner.]

[You have acquired 30 million gold.]

[You will be able to acquire gold whenever you eat chocolate from the mines.]

“......?”

Minhyuk looked like he won the jackpot as he turned towards Ruan.

“What’s the market price for a piece of gold ore?”

“5 million gold.”

“That’s just a drop out of a bucket.”

“.......?”

Minhyuk did not explain in detail about that part. All he knew was that he could now get money whenever he would eat chocolate!

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. [1]

Leton who was watching him grinned at his antics.

‘I know that he just wanted to eat chocolate but I still can’t believe that this friend will work so hard……’

He thought that he was really amazing. Why? In the span of two days, he was the person with the least amount of sleep among all of them. Even if the whole mining team left him alone due to his harsh schedule,he still continued to work hard.

His total in those two days was equivalent to all of the harvest of the five teams. The total, even if you exclude the harvest of the rest of the 5th mining team, was still much more compared to the rest of the four mining teams.

After a long time of being down in the dumps, Leton was finally in high spirits.

‘This person is from our 5th mining team!’

Their achievements right now were all thanks to Minhyuk.

Then he approached Minhyuk.

“Boy, I have a proposal for you.”

“Proposal?”

“Yeah.”

Leton nodded his head as he laid down his proposal.

“By any chance, do you have any intention of being a legendary miner?”

[Captain Leton has suggested that you become a Legendary Miner.]

[If you accept and become a Legendary Miner, then your blacksmithing skill will increase and your output in mining will be 10 times more than the others.]

‘......!’

Minhyuk was not aware of this, he did not expect that Leton was a protector who could give out a Legendary class! The Leton who was the team leader of the mining team that was on the verge of getting fired!

The condition for the Legendary Miner to come out was to help the 5th mining team overcome their crisis and help them make an overwhelming mineral turnover that would make them the highest among all of the mining teams. And Minhyuk has done it in many ways than one.

“As you can see, the Legendary Miner will allow you to have a mining speed that’s 10 times faster than normal miners which will give you a 10 times the output. Also, you will get better and special abilities for your blacksmithing skills.”

“Heok?!”

It was Ruan, who reacted to his explanation, and not Minhyuk.

‘10 times the output compared to normal miners?!’

That was ten times more than the regular ones, which meant that it was an opportunity for anyone to become a rich man.

What if you get better skills aside from the faster and better output in mining?

‘Wow…… Receiving this legendary class for a job change is like winning the lotto for someone with a production class!’

It would definitely generate a lot of impact and influence. In addition, the blacksmithing ability would increase tremendously once the class was accepted.

However, at this moment, Minhyuk was agonizing over how he would politely refuse the offer.

“I’m really, really, really grateful for your proposal. Captain Leton-nim. However, I already have a job class. It’s an extremely great job where I can eat really really well and I think that this job suits me the most.”

“Hooo. This job is much more suited to you compared to mining? Anyway, it seems like your job is related to eating. Haaa. I get it.”

Leton looked disappointed but he still nodded in understanding.

Minhyuk knew that he got this proposal because he got very close to Leton in those two days of non-stop mining that he did.

“Huh? Minhyuk-nim, you really wouldn’t receive it? For real?! Then let me do it! Me! Me! I’ve been doing my best as the maknae so far! Please let me do it!”

Leton looked at him from his head to his toe.

“Boy…… Hmm…… It’s not like that…… you know. Something like that……”

“What? What do I know?”

“Ah, you know, that?”

Then, Leton turned around after leaving that sentence.

“No, what was that?!”

Leton left without saying the main point. He was so curious that he blurted his words in a mess.

***

It was the third day after he met with and said his requests. Card was on his way to an area that was not that far from the Brethni Mines. He went to the place where he could stick the key in.

‘I only have 2 hours after I placed the key in. The entrance to that place will appear after that time frame.’

The moment that he plugged the key in place, plenty of stronger monsters would definitely rush out of the mines. The people inside the mine would not be able to hold them back but the Horden Guild would definitely be able to hunt them.

He was certain that there wouldn’t be any other variable. They have prepared perfectly for this moment.

After some time, he sent a whisper to Brony.

[Card: Are you ready?]

[Brony: Of course. All of my guild members are now ready to be deployed in front of the mines.]

[Card: Make your move as soon as I send the signal out.]

[Brony: Yes!]

After confirming the status of Brony and his guild members, Card decisively plugged the key in. As soon as he plugged the key, a series of notifications rang out in his head.

[You have used the Legend’s Key.]

[The Road to the Legend will open in 2 hours.]

As he heard the notification, he quickly sent a whisper to Brony.

[Card: Now’s the time!]

***

Leton, who was entering the mines, looked extremely angry.

“Those damn soldier bastards!”

“In the end, they did not allow it again?”

“With all the output that we have in these 3 days, they did not allow it?!”

They grumbled loudly, complaining about the soldier’s stance about this matter.

They had amassed a lot of iron ores in the past three days. However, their mouths remained shut and they ignored their pleas when they demanded for a better distribution and set of equipment. It was a matter of fact that they should not cut off their supplies right now. Besides, Minhyuk was still working hard to gather minerals and ores inside.

However, at that moment…

“Keuaaaack!”

“Uwaaaaack!”

“Keoheeeeok!”

Screams came from the outside of the mines.

“W, what was that?!”

“What’s that sound?”

The miners were shocked when they heard sudden screams from the outside. And it did not end there… All of a sudden, there were monsters coming out from the depths of the mines.

They were Iron Wolves!

“......Heok?!”

“Eok?!”

The miners trembled in fear as they saw the Iron Wolves appear before them.

The monsters that were usually present in the mines were only at around Lv80~100. However, the Iron Wolves were all semi-boss class and were above Lv150.

And there were a bunch of these monsters that suddenly appeared in front of them!

“H, how could this be. Everyone, run……!”

Before Leton could even finish his words, an Iron Wolf suddenly moved.

“Grrr!”

The Iron Wolf opened its maw and went for Leton’s head.

At that moment…

Slaaaaash!

Ruan quickly hit the head of the Iron Wolf with his pickaxe.

“Grrr!”

However, his blow seemed to have not dealt any major damage to the Iron Wolf. After all, Ruan was just originally a Lv100 warrior class before he came to the mines. This was the reason why his strength and physical abilities were vastly different compared to the miners.

He was a human being, through and through, so if he saw the miners die in front of him then his heart would also feel empty. Other users said ‘What does it matter if the NPCs died?’. However he still calculated his chances.

‘Will I be able to buy them time to run away?’

He won’t suffer and he would just be logged out. And also, all of his artifacts were so shitty that it was just like iron ore even if he dropped them here.

He looked around.

‘Damn it…… Minhyuk-nim is also just a production class user!’

He could only trust other users. But the other user that he could trust was only a Lv90 production class user. It would be difficult for them to buy them enough time even if they joined forces.

Ruan quickly made a decision.

“Minhyuk-nim, quickly take the miners away! Lion’s Roar! Keuhahahahahaha!”

[Lion’s Roar.]

[Irritates all of the monsters within a 5m radius and draws their attention towards the user.]

“Grrr!”

“Grrrrrrr!”

All of the Iron Wolves turned their heads to where Ruan was.

With this, Minhyuk and the rest will be able to evacuate safely.

However, when he turned his head around he saw Minhyuk right behind him. He was not running away. He even saw Leton pulling his arms and trying to persuade him.

“L, let’s go quickly! What else can you do! We won’t be of any help to him even if we stayed here!”

However, Minhyuk still stood there without moving an inch. Ruan smiled at him.

‘Are you telling me that I shouldn’t be the only one who should be logged out? Do you want to come with me? We knew each other for just a short period of time but you’re already treating me like this!’

He was happy and thrilled. However, Minhyuk who was standing behind him was thinking in the opposite direction……

‘That. Isn’t that the mithril ore?!’

His eyes were glued to where the mithril ore was. It seemed that it had fallen off of the walls when the Iron Wolves came.

‘I feel like there will be white chocolate in there.’

Minhyuk licked his lips. And at the same time, the Iron Wolves launched their attacks on Ruan.

“Ru, Ruaaaaaaan!”

“N, nooooo!”

“You might have looked like a bandit but you still did a good job!”

Minhyuk murmured softly among their screams.

“Step.”

***

Footnotes

[1] A proverb meaning what’s good for a woman is also good for a man. I know that this is not the exact counterpart of the korean saying written which is 누이 좋고 매부 좋다. The korean saying just means that it is good and favorable for both parties. I think they have the same meaning so I used the english proverb.

TL’s corner!!!

Why do I feel like Ruan would not be able to change to the Indomitable Blacksmith class?

PR’s corner!

Probably because he’s not really all that indomitable.

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