Gourmet Gaming

Ali had a dream. He wanted to find precious friends, who he could leave his back to and even risk his life for. He wanted to be just like the main character from that famous anime, who ventured out to sea and gathered precious friends by his side. Ali achieved that dream with the help of Minhyuk and the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

After achieving his dream, Ali had another dream. This time, he wanted to lead those who also dreamt of having friends like him. And today, Ali finally created the Friend Religion and became the leader of these people. He could not help but cry from the overwhelming emotions that he was feeling.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk heard several notifications in his ears.

[703 mages migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

[307 swordsmen migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

[103 assassins migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

[...Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

Surprisingly enough, Ali’s Friend Religion included a variety of classes of players, not only mages. Well, just because he was the God of Magic did not mean that his worshippers should only be mages, did it?

The swordsmen could become the Friend Religion’s paladins, while the assassins could become Ali’s shadows. Of course, considering the steady flow of mages coming to the Beyond the Heavens Empire before the completion of the temple’s construction, the Friend Religion’s worshippers’ population would probably have around 75% mages.

‘The gods will build their religions. And if they could lead their worshippers well, they would have power on par with a kingdom.’

Ever since the Succession Ceremony ended, players have started establishing their own religions all over the world. The gods also helped them grow by giving quests to the worshippers who came to serve them.

For ordinary players, it felt a whole lot easier to enter the religion knowing that the gods that they would worship were players, too. Why? Gods were omnipotent. But if a god was a player, then they were far more familiar with them and at ease.

Perhaps Ali’s Friend Religion might be a constant help to the Beyond the Heavens Empire in the future.

‘It would be nice if my Minhyuk Religion could recruit more worshipers, too.’

The first player to ever create their religion in Athenae was Minhyuk. However, now that there were quite a lot of religions that had started to pop out one after another, the Minhyuk Religion had been left behind. Perhaps it was safe to say that the Minhyuk Religion was the most uninfluential one. The reason? Well, it was simple.

‘The Food God class is not a combat class. And it’s also quite hard to categorize it as a production class.’

The players were free to choose whatever religion they wanted to serve and worship. So, for chefs, it was probably a much better choice to serve the religion of the God of Cooking, one of the Absolute Gods. Then, what about the combat class players? Would they come to the Minhyuk Religion? They wouldn’t either.

‘Only if I take over the position and become the true Battle God will I be able to gather people under my religion and lead many more people.’

Minhyuk was looking forward to it. After all, the Battle God was the greatest god among the Absolute Gods. He was also the god who had become the subject of envy of most of the players. The day that he would sit on the throne of the Battle God would be when he would become the master of the largest and most significant religion in Athenae.

The Battle God had told them he would decide between Minhyuk and Nerva through a competition. He said he would decide who would become the true Battle God’s Descendant through this.

At that moment, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

[The God of Shields’ Temple has been built in the Aveid Territory!]

[The God of Shields’ religion bears the name ‘Guardian Religion’!]

God of Shields Valentino also built his temple in Minhyuk’s territory. Minhyuk gave Valentino money on purpose and ordered him to build his temple in the Aveid Territory.

One reason was that there were still some people in the Beyond the Heavens Empire who were not happy with Valentino. Also, he needed God of Shields Valentino in the Aveid Territory, which was teeming with monsters.

Of course, establishing Valentino’s religion and temple would encourage the tankers to gather in his empire. But that would be just a shot in the dark.

‘It would already be nice if at least 300 tankers were moving to the Beyond the Heavens Empire or joining the Guardian Religion.’

Minhyuk believed that the public’s current evaluation of Valentino was not good. There were two reasons for this: one, he was kicked out of the Luvien Empire, and two, his usual attitude and behavior weren’t good.

But then, at that moment, a shocking notification rang.

[16,543 tankers migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]

“...?” Minhyuk could not help but look doubtfully at the notification.

‘A huge number of tankers are migrating to the empire all at once?’

It was unbelievable. Valentino’s position was falling rapidly. Even so, many tankers immediately migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire when the Guardian Religion was established. To join the religion of a player belonging to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they also had to move and join the empire. They all moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire for Valentino’s sake and not because they preferred the empire.

Just when Minhyuk was sporting a confused expression and was about to go to the Aveid Territory, Carron approached him and said, “Your Majesty, the gift that I was telling you about before is now finished.”

***

Aveid Territory was a barren land teeming with masters. It was in this land where Valentino built his temple under Minhyuk’s orders and led subjugation troops to keep the monsters away and continue pioneering the land day after day despite there being no rewards.

Not too long ago, articles with titles like “Valentino’s Fall” began to pour in. There were also many comments saying, “He grabbed his last lifeline.” when he migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Seeing these articles, Valentino could tell that the reputation and fame he had protected in the past had all been lost.

Valentino also said in the Q&A interview that he would become the dog of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and be loyal to it. He also declared that he would try his best to correct the mistakes that he had committed in the past. When the people saw the video, they pointed their fingers at him.

–Did you only realize your mistakes after you fell?

–How funny! You ran to the Beyond the Heavens Empire with your tail tucked behind you.

However, Valentino had been the idol and the role model of the tankers for a very long time. The countless tankers who watched him back then saw something different.

During the Succession Ceremony, they saw how Valentino ignored Nerva’s orders for him to protect his pride as a god. This action helped him protect and keep more people alive. That was the pride of a tanker. It was not Valentino who did wrong; it was Nerva. That was how the tankers saw what happened back then. Despite having a hot-tempered and weird personality, the tankers had also seen how Valentino worked hard to revive the tanker class that had always been hidden away from the spotlight.

So what if he has a hot-tempered personality? He would always be the icon and the idol of all tankers. That fact would remain unchanged.

Valentino, exhausted from stopping the monsters from coming forward, had finished the construction of his temple and established his Guardian Religion. He thought, ‘Now, my dream of creating a kingdom for tankers is already impossible.’

A bitter expression flashed on Valentino’s face. Who would even follow someone like him? But, to his shock, more than ten thousand tankers came. Seeing this scene, he could not understand what was happening.

“We have always been waiting for you to build a kingdom or a temple!”

“You are the only master who will lead the tankers like us!”

“If you choose to be the shield of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then we will also become the shield of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!”

“Now, we will become your strongest and sturdiest shield!”

Valentino looked at them and realized he was not necessarily threading on the wrong path.

“The Guardian Religion is a religion that will protect and sacrifice itself for the sake of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Even so, will that be alright with you?” Valentino asked them.

The tankers answered in unison.

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Valentino smiled at them in satisfaction when he saw them answer without hesitation, their will unshaken.

At that moment, the monsters appeared, again charging toward the Aveid Territory. Their number was higher than usual. Usually, Valentino would stand alone in front of the subjugation troops to stop a blood bath from happening.

“Let’s go.”

Over ten thousand tankers stood behind Valentino, took out their gigantic square shields, and stood in formation.

***

Minhyuk logged out for a bit when he heard that Carron had finished the gift he had prepared and sent it to his mail. He checked his email and found an email with the subject written as “Gift~^^” and promptly clicked on it.

‘A video?’

A confused Minhyuk clicked the play button and started the video.

[Haa... Haa... Haa...]

The countless enemies charging at Minhyuk almost filled the screen. Minhyuk, with his hands on his knees and ragged breathing, looked at them.

[It’s exhausting...]

The voice that rang in Minhyuk’s ears was someone else’s, not his own. On the screen, his figure, covered in sweat, stared at the throngs of enemies charging at him.

[I want to quit.]

Along with the voice, a different screen recording showed Minhyuk breathing harshly. It was then covered with screenshots of the sarcastic remarks aimed at the Food God.

[Isn’t the Food God strong only because he has his empire, class, and vassals? Lol.]

[Agree! Agree! And agree!]

[Without his empire, class, and vassals, he’s nothing.]

Hundreds of mocking, jeering, and malice comments covered the screen.

‘Is this my gift?’ Minhyuk thought, a frown marring his face.

The truth was that Minhyuk was aware of most of the malicious comments. He believed the best way to deal with such comments was to ignore them and not look at them.

But even if Minhyuk’s mentality was strong, there were times when he could not pretend he did not care. Indeed. In the end, Minhyuk was still human. Perhaps that was also the reason why he was very conscious of Alexander.

Anyway, Minhyuk decided to continue watching.

[But I will not give up.]

As the voice rang, one screen recording broke through the hundreds of malicious comments and floated in front of the screen. The screen recording showed Minhyuk’s exhausted figure slowly recovering his strength and standing up.

Minhyuk recognized the place where the recording was showing. It was one of the recordings of his latest battle in the Infinite Battles.

In the video, Minhyuk loudly and powerfully said, “Enough!” and all of the screenshots began to crack.

Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack–!

When the screenshots broke apart, it revealed Minhyuk charging at the countless enemies before him with a sharp and piercing glare despite his ragged breathing.

[I will show you...]

Fast-paced music suddenly rang as Minhyuk, with his sharp glare, cut through his enemies. As if following the music, Minhyuk increased his pace and swung his sword against his enemies in the Infinite Battlefield.

[...what kind of person I am.]

Minhyuk felt his heart start to speed up as the beat of the music and the cool, jaw-dropping video flashed on his screen.

[I will not fall.]

He could tell that this was Carron’s message and way of showing him his support.

[Even if I fall, I will stand back up again.]

At that moment, a screenshot, utterly different from the screenshots of the malicious comments earlier, appeared on the screen.

[The Food God is indeed the Supreme.]

[Even if the Food God has only his empire, his class, and his vassals, we still love him for who he is.]

[Everyone in Athenae loves him because he’s the Food God. Because he’s Minhyuk.]

[Thank you for showing the world what our South Korea is like, Food God!]

[Food God, you look so exhausted these days. It’s okay to rest; don’t tire yourself so much!]

[It’s okay to put everything down for a moment and rest. Even if you’re not the Supreme, we will continue to support and cheer for you!]

A smile unknowingly curled at the corner of Minhyuk’s lips when he saw hundreds of screenshots like that.

[Because there are people who believe in me.]

The camera panned to the sky as if signaling that the video was about to end.

Crackle– Crackle–

The sound of static rang as a new video appeared on the screen again. The footage showed one man and one man alone charging toward the millions of enemies that were running on a long and wide bridge.

Then, the final words appeared as the video finally ended.

[I will stand at the highest position and become the Sky.]

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