Gourmet Gaming

The reason for Roina’s misconception was because she was not aware of the system's current inhibitions on Minhyuk.

As for Minhyuk, he was exercising diligently, and kept on swinging his sword with a focused look. He only stopped to take a rest when his arms started to become numb, by which he would lie down and start to do sit-ups.

Whenever his muscles started to scream in protest, he would then rest and look around his surroundings.

"Look at that player, he's exercising. Pfft… if he studied hard instead of exercising inside the game, he could go to a good university."

"That's right, if you studied hard in the game too, won't your mom stop scolding you?"

"Sh— shut up!"

The other players looked at him curiously but Minhyuk did not care.

‘I have to exercise so I can eat!’

Roina watched him closely. Minhyuk didn't rest and kept on doing the same thing over and over.

'The look in his eyes… is different.'

Roina saw it clearly. Minhyuk had a different look in his eyes. He was not smiling nonchalantly like before, when he had stood in front of her.

‘He looks like he's exercising… to live.’

‘Has anybody ever heard of something like that?’

Well, for Minhyuk it was truly like that. He was doing it, to live.

It was a very somber reason. However, he was doing it so he could eat even more delicious things, not just currently, but also in the future to come.

He swung his sword without stopping. Then, he started to feel an extreme sense of hunger and it was like there was a voice talking in his head.

Eat, eat, eat, eat!

Even in reality, Minhyuk had always been exercising like crazy. He felt like the voice would disappear, even for a bit, when his body was being worked to the extremes.

It was the same with the current situation. He worked out fervently, moving with an intensity that everybody else did not have.

When the four hours were up…

[You have burnt all of your calories gained, your fullness has reached 0%]

[You are able to eat again.]

Minhyuk was able to complete it, as per usual.

"Oh yeah!"

Then he halted.

"...Oh yes, I want to eat."

Minhyuk patted his stomach as he started cooking chicken again.

***

It was early in the morning when Lee Minhwa had just got up from her bed. Recently, she had been getting off work at the break of dawn, due to the never-ending meetings and plans for a new event to replace the golden chicken event.

She stretched her tired body as she dragged her feet to the kitchen. As she opened her refrigerator, all she could see were eggs and the sour kimchi she had gotten from her mother.

'There's nothing to eat,' she thought.

She suddenly paused as she was about to slam the door of the refrigerator shut.

'Wait…!'

She took out the eggs and kimchi, before grabbing a frying pan and lit up the fire.

Sizzle!

The pan sizzled as she cracked an egg over it.

"Hehe…," Lee Minhwa grinned widely.

Just recently, Player Minhyuk ate some soy sauce egg rice.

When that happened, the only thing Lee Minhwa could do was stare at it blankly. It was as though she could taste Minhyuk’s cooking herself when she watched him, and the light, savory taste of the egg seemed to linger in her mouth.

"Mix with your left hand~ mix with your right hand~" She started to sing Minhyuk’s song unconsciously, before grimacing.

"Why am I singing this song…"

‘That player really has a knack for this.‘

Watching Minhyuk always brought a smile to her face. Even though she always had to work overtime because of him, strangely enough, she would also find herself laughing and smiling whenever she watched him.

'Does eating make him that happy?'

It was but a small part of her life, a daily necessity, but to Minhyuk, it looked as though he was very happy as long as he could eat.

Whenever he smiled, she could not help but smile as well.

'Am I cooking it correctly?'

Lee Minhwa wondered as she took a big bite of her soy sauce egg rice that was topped with sour kimchi.

‘That player really enjoyed it.?I wonder if he would really exercise?’

‘Will he do it just to eat?’

She proceeded to finish her meal in a flash, before making preparations and hurriedly left for the office.

Team Leader Park was already at work. He was currently looking at Minhyuk on Monitor 3.

"Good morning."

"Hey," Team Leader Park nodded and turned around to face her. "Employee Lee Minhwa, your hunch was right."

"Eh?"

"That player. He did it."

"...?"

"He really exercised for 4 hours?straight,?just to burn all the calories. This player’s really amazing," Team Leader Park raised his arms and shrugged in defeat.

"Ah…!" A smile bloomed widely on Lee Minhwa’s face.

Team Leader Park looked at her suspiciously, "Hmm? Why do you look so happy?"

"Ah, no."

These days, watching Minhyuk eat was like taking a sip from the Spring of Life to Lee Minhwa.

Team Leader Park was puzzled.

Five hours later, they watched Minhyuk as he began exercising again to burn calories. They also watched the number beside his fullness stat increase from /7 to /8.

Had Minhyuk stopped eating, the number beside the / would have continued to fall.

However, even after he burned the calories he consumed, the number had continued to increase.

‘Tsk, he's getting closer to the God class.’

At that moment, a string of words floated up.

[Ardo's Roina recommended Player Minhyuk to learn the Bardy Swordsmanship.]

"....!"

Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa's eyes went round in shock.

"Da… Day after day. This… Again… What the hell?!"

He had a defeated expression on his face while Lee Minhwa pulled up the screen monitoring Player Minhyuk. 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

Instructor Roina was in front of Minhyuk.

"Team Leader, aren't the skills given by NPCs much stronger than skills of the same rank?"

"Yeah. They are originally very rare, furthermore, their power is comparable to that of unique skills."

Even if the skills were of the same rank, there would be a huge difference in strength between learning from a skill book, and learning from someone personally.

"He has now received a good skill."

Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa both smiled unconsciously.

***

Minhyuk sported a weird expression as Roina approached him, her words extremely shocking.

"Would you like to learn swordsmanship from me?"

"Yes?"

[Instructor Roina has offered to teach you the Bardy Swordsmanship.]

[You can now travel freely between Ardo's Novice Hunting Training Grounds and Isbin Village.]

[You have gained 3 reputation points.]

[Accepting the offer will create a skill quest.]

"There's no special reason. I'm just a bit bored. Also, I saw you doing those sword swings repeatedly yesterday and today, why not turn that into training practice?"

Although her words flowed out smoothly, and the reasons seemed sound, it was what Roina truly felt.

‘Why did Instructor Valen give him the Sword of Rebellion?’

‘He's determined…, a person with a strong will…, he's resolute.’

‘He's not arrogant, plus, his body knows how to move.’

That was what Roina thought when she observed Minhyuk.

'I want to help this person too.'

It was such a strange thought, however, Minhyuk always seemed to give off a good vibe.

Whenever she watched him, there was an urge to cheer him on and give him some sort of help.

'Was this why Instructor Valen approved of him?' She thought. She was sure of it. That was why Roina became determined to teach him swordsmanship.

"Hmmmmmm…."

However, Minhyuk was stroking his chin in thought.

"All… All the other players are dying to learn from me, you know?!"

"Uh-huh…"

"It's true!"

"Really~?"

Minhyuk only had one cause of concern…

The training course that she would implement.

‘Will the training course be as hard as the exercise I do?’

For him, who only exercised for the sake of eating more, he did not consider being strong to be a priority currently. Furthermore, if the training course could not reach the same level of intensity, he would still feel hunger.

"Will it be strenuous enough?"

"Please stop. Do you want to scream in pain?"

"Then, please teach me!"

'I've never seen a guy who likes working out this much!'

Minhyuk nodded at her, and the quest window appeared.

[Quest: Practice the Bardy Swordsmanship]

Rank: D

Limit: None

Rewards: Bardy Swordsmanship

Penalty for Failure: You will lose Roina's favor.

Description: Roina, who was hailed as the Sword Genius, personally offered to train you.

Fill the 'Training Progress' to 100% in a week and you will be able to use the Bardy Swordsmanship.

Minhyuk nodded.

There was a line on the upper-left hand corner that showed "Training Progress 0%."

‘Quests truly appear in a lot of different ways.’

There were various factors, anomalies and existences in?Athenae. It was entirely possible that all NPCs could give quests.

However, one thing was certain. In a way, a quest was a promise with the NPC.

In the case of the rewards, if the player who received the quest completed it, they would definitely be rewarded.

"Well then, let's start."

Shiiiing!

Roina unsheathed her sword from her waist.

Riiip!

She stabbed at him with all her might, which caused the surrounding air to sound like it was being torn apart.

Minhyuk was amazed at the strength of the strike.

"Wow…"

"Follow me, Minhyuk."

"Yes!"

Minhyuk stabbed as hard as Roina did. This was the beginning of their training.

Two hours later…

"Please… stop!"

"....?"

Minhyuk did what Roina told him to do. He looked at her curiously.

"How can you train for two hours straight without even resting?! Let me take a break!"

"If I don't do this much, I'll definitely get hungry. Come on~ Instructor, don't talk about resting, let's continue! There's no time to rest!"

Roina gasped as she stared at Minhyuk.

‘Is his determination this strong?!’

She had to admit that she was amazed at him.

'What level of comprehension is this, and… what kind of fighting spirit does he have?!’

Minhyuk did not forget any of the moves she taught him. In fact, his movements kept on improving. He was like a sponge absorbing every single drop of water available with the way he soaked up everything Roina taught.

And, the look in Minhyuk's eyes never wavered.

'Oyya, let's see who will suffer in defeat!'

***

"Ho? Roina taught you the Bardy Swordsmanship?" Instructor Valen was surprised when he heard Minhyuk.

"That's right, Instructor."

Minhyuk had been sending Roina's letters to Instructor Valen for the past few days.

The Bardy Swordsmanship's training progress bar was already 90% filled, and Minhyuk would soon be able to complete it.

"Today, Instructor Roina wanted me to send you this letter, together with this rose, as usual."

Valen accepted what Minhyuk gave him.

'This guy…' was what Valen thought as he looked at the roses. He then checked the contents of the letter.

[Loyalty. This is Roina.

Do you remember the time when you saved my life?

I really wanted to treat you to a meal after that.

So, I'll send you fried chicken through Minhyuk.

And…

I like you, Instructor…!]

Instructor Valen shook his head and smiled a little after reading the letter.

"Boy, you're leaving now huh. I can tell from this letter."

Roina's confession. Valen looked calmer than expected when he read the confession.

"Yes. It's about time I go."

"Have you achieved your goals?"

"No. I haven't had fried chicken yet!"

"You'll probably make it tonight."

Valen laughed at him while Minhyuk was still clueless as to what it meant.

Minhyuk then returned to Roina and resumed training.

At some point…

Ring!

[You have achieved 100% in the training progress of Bardy Swordsmanship.]

[You can now use Bardy Swordsmanship.]

The skill's rating works the same as the item's rating. Minhyuk did not hesitate to read the information.

(Bardy Swordsmanship)

Active Skill

Rank: D

Level: 1?Training Progress: 0%

Mana Required: Depends on the phase

Cooldown: Depends on the phase

Effect:

>Phase 1 : Vital Strike

>Phase 2 : Two Consecutive Quick Assault

>Phase 3 : Bardy Swordsmanship

The Bardy Swordsmanship skill boasted different attacking methods, and the cooldown depended on which chapter was being used.

Minhyuk clicked on them one by one.