Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 973

Minhyuk went to the Big Tree Forest to hunt for the Steel-Armored Ogres.

It has only been a few days since he arrived in the World of Hybrids, Utopia. However, he had already learned something in just those few days.

‘The basic level of the monsters here is much higher than in our world.’

What was the reason for this? It was probably because more than 90% of the population of this world were half-human, half-elves.

Humans were nimble and good with the sword, while elves were slender from birth and superior to humans when handling bows. With the combination of all of the advantages of both races present in them, it was only natural that their average level was high. And in turn, the average level of monsters would also be high.

‘The look in Rhoando’s eyes looked strange.’

Although Rhoando was mocking him, Minhyuk did not miss the look in his eyes.

‘What’s the reason?’

However, he pushed the doubt to the back of his head. He knew that he would be able to find out about it as long as he finished hunting the Steel-Armored Ogres.

“Roaaaaaaar!”

The loud roar of the ogre reverberated in the forest. When Minhyuk turned toward the sound, he saw a gigantic Steel-Armored Ogre protected by steel armor. Its size was far larger than the ordinary ogre that Minhyuk knew of.

[Steel-Armored Ogre. Level 601.]

‘What the hell? What ogre goes above Level 600?’

The average level of ogres in Minhyuk’s world was around Level 450. Of course, there were a few higher-leveled ogres among them. However, their highest level would only be at around Level 500 or so.

‘Rhoando and the mercenaries spoke as if they could hunt these Steel-Armored Ogres.’

Perhaps Rhoando and his band of mercenaries were considered some of the strongest guys in this world.

Minhyuk looked at the charging Steel-Armored Ogre with a relaxed expression.

Slash–!

The ogre swiftly raised its axe and swung it down Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk easily evaded the attack. He even had the leisure to swing his sword, which carried the word Destruction on its blade.

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash–!

When Minhyuk, who could swing his sword more than four times per second, slashed at the ogre, around sixteen lightning bolts fell from the sky and devoured the ogre.

“Keuhaaack?”

The rugged and sturdy Steel-Armored Ogre fell in just two seconds.

Minhyuk had already reached Level 650. For him, it would only take a single swing of his sword to deal with a Steel-Armored Ogre, even if it had an unexpectedly stronger power than usual.

Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

[You have hunted a Steel-Armored Ogre.]

[You gained 31,300,000 EXP.]

[You gained one platinum.]

[You have acquired the Steel-Armored Ogre’s Blood.]

[You have acquired Utopia’s Superior Potato.]

“...Oh?” Minhyuk looked at the notifications in surprise.

According to Rhoando and the mercenaries, there was nothing that they could eat in this world. But a potato dropped when he hunted the Steel-Armored Ogre. The fact that a potato would drop from an ogre was quite an unfamiliar sight.

Minhyuk immediately checked out the potato’s information.

(Utopia’s Superior Potato)

Ingredient Grade: A

Special Abilities:

•It will taste incomparably better than ordinary potatoes.

•If you eat one, you will not go hungry for three days.

•Once consumed, your vitality will increase by 2%, and your STR and STM will increase by 3% for three days.

• Eating just one potato contains all the nutrients your body needs for three days.

Description: This is the only food permitted in Utopia, a place where consumption of food is prohibited. The only thing that the Utopians can eat is potatoes.

Minhyuk was very excited to see the delicious-looking potato in his hands.

‘This potato is the only food permitted in Utopia.’

Minhyuk felt thrilled that he was the only one allowed to enter this place. He immediately started steaming the potato that he had obtained. While steaming the potato, he planned to deal with the Steel-Armored Ogre and remove its steel armor.

The Steel-Armored Ogre’s skin was literally like steel armor. Minhyuk might not know it, but even the skilled blacksmiths of Utopia could only get a kilogram of steel armor from the Steel-Armored Ogre. And it would take them at least seven hours to completely extract and acquire the steel armor. That just went to show how hard the task was.

But Minhyuk? He just stretched his hand out and tugged on the steel armor, which easily fell off and landed in his palms.

“That’s easy?”

[You have done a perfect job in extracting the steel armor.]

[There is little to no damage to the steel armor you extracted. You can use the material to make swords or armor right away.]

[No matter how long the time has passed, the steel armor will not rust so easily.]

Minhyuk’s DEX was higher than the DEX of the God of Blacksmiths. This task was just like a piece of cake for him. Of course, he did not forget to check the detailed information of the material in his hands.

(Ogre’s Steel Armor)

Material Grade: A

Special Abilities:

•If you use the Ogre’s Steel Armor to create a sword, your sword will have 13% higher attack power than ordinary swords.

•If you use the Ogre’s Steel Armor to create a sword, your sword will have a 20% increase in cutting power.

Description: This is the steel armor attached to the body of the Steel-Armored Ogre. They wear around 80 kilograms of steel armor on their bodies, but even a skilled blacksmith could only extract at most a kilogram of the steel armor on their body.

“Oh…”

Minhyuk was quite impressed. The material itself was far superior to ordinary iron or steel. The best part? If used by a skilled knight, the 20% increase in cutting power would tremendously boost their powers.

‘Isn’t this amazing?’

Of course, there was plenty of iron and steel in the world from where Minhyuk came. However, it was still quite hard to obtain iron and steel of outstanding quality.

Minhyuk first acquired all of the steel armor he could obtain from the Steel-Armored Ogre.

[You have obtained 11 kg of Ogre’s Steel Armor.]

The steel armor that he obtained from one ogre was no less than eleven kilograms.

‘Is it this easy to acquire?’

However, Minhyuk concluded that this was not the case at all. The explanation clearly told him that even the most skilled blacksmiths could only extract a kilogram at most.

At this moment, he realized again, ‘They tried to make me do something that they thought I wouldn’t be able to do in the first place.’

He did not know their true intentions, but one thing was for sure: It was absolutely impossible for an ordinary person to complete this quest. Thankfully, it was a piece of cake for Minhyuk, who had repeatedly worked hard just so he could taste delicious dishes.

‘If I can use this steel armor to make weapons and armor for the knights and soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then they would be reborn anew. Perhaps they would even become 10% stronger than normal.’

Minhyuk decided to take as much steel armor as possible from the Steel-Armored Ogres while proceeding with his quest. But before that, he turned to look at the potato that he had steamed.

Steam rose from the pot when he gently lifted the lid. He removed the potato and let it cool for a while. Once it had cooled down, he carefully peeled the potato.

“Tss. Hot, hot! It’s still hot, huh?” Minhyuk gently rolled the potato around in his hand before peeling it again.

After peeling the skin off, he took a huge bite of the steaming potato.

“Ho–”

The potato's heat immediately spread in his mouth. Minhyuk rolled the piece with his tongue to cool it down before chewing and gulping it. The potato was steamed perfectly. It was so soft that it glided smoothly down his throat.

“Yummy…” Minhyuk was in awe.

This time, he dipped the potato in salt. A burst of umami spread in Minhyuk’s mouth as the salt met with the slightly dry and bland potato.

Minhyuk, who finished the potato in an instant, topped his meal off with the cold and sour dongchimi.

“Kihyaa!” Minhyuk shouted in awe.

‘I have never tasted a potato more delicious than this!’

The potato, the only food allowed in Utopia, was surprisingly delicious. Perhaps that was only the case because he ate a Superior Potato.

‘What if there’s a higher-grade potato out there? Would it taste more delicious?’

Minhyuk assumed that he could get more potatoes by hunting the monsters. And from what he had guessed, the grade of the potato he would obtain would depend on the level of the monster that he had hunted.

‘If I can hunt a stronger monster, then does that mean that I will be able to get more delicious potatoes?’

Minhyuk felt highly excited. Why? Because the potato he had just eaten was tastier than any other potato he had tasted in his life. The thought of making buttered potato, French fries, potato jeon, and many other potato-based dishes with such a delicious potato was indeed enough to excite him.

“Fufu. It would be good if I could equip the knights and soldiers of my Beyond the Heavens Empire with better swords and armor. So, I have to hunt more of this bastard, no?”

It was evident that Minhyuk’s motivation for hunting the monsters in Utopia was to get more potatoes. However, he quickly made an excuse by saying that he wanted to give new weapons and armor to the knights and soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

Just like that, Minhyuk began to hunt the Steel-Armored Ogres in the Big Tree Forest at a rapid pace. In just one hour, he was able to chase 200 ogres. He was also able to obtain more than two tons of steel armor and more than 300 potatoes.

Even so, Minhyuk was still disappointed.

‘More– More, more…!’

He needed more potatoes. Of course, he also needed more steel armor for his knights and soldiers. But the problem was he could no longer find any Steel-Armored Ogres in the Big Tree Forest.

Minhyuk quickly climbed up a cliff, trying to find more Steel-Armored Ogres.

“P– Potato…”

That was when he saw a vast ogre settlement beneath the cliff. Minhyuk thought tens of thousands of Steel-Armored Ogres would be in that place.

Minhyuk was extremely thrilled. Why? Because he felt like he would be able to obtain 50,000 potatoes today. But then, Minhyuk saw around twenty people, who looked like royal knights, being dragged in by some of the Steel-Armored Ogres.

***

Rowling, one of the knights of the Barov Kingdom, was sporting a helpless and desperate look.

‘Not only did we fail the subjugation, we were also easily caught as prey…’

Steel-Armored Ogres were known for living together in packs and creating huge settlements. This meant that their intelligence could rival that of an orc’s intelligence.

The Steel-Armored Ogres had been showing up in the Big Tree Forest and various other forests in the past few years. And, of course, they would leave tremendous casualties in their wake. Because of that, the great king personally gave them an order.

–Subjugate and eliminate the Steel-Armored Ogres.

The knights of Barov Kingdom formed several teams to subjugate the ogres. Their initial plan was to slowly hunt the Steel-Armored Ogres from the various forests, including the Big Tree Forest, where they had appeared. Then, once they had prepared themselves to some extent, they would push them back and, by extension, force their settlement away.

However, because of the wrong judgment made by the commander of the Third Knight Order, Rowling and the rest of the knights with him were forced to enter deeper into the forest than they had planned before. Because of that, they suffered severe damage in their ranks. The worst part? The twenty people, who barely survived, were tied up and dragged into the ogres’ settlement like this.

Everything that happened made Rowling feel scared. ‘From what I heard, these bastards eat humans alive.’

The mere thought made Rowling flinch and cower. Perhaps the ogres were bringing him and the rest of the twenty survivors here so they could eat them.

Then, in just an instant, they were surrounded by tens of thousands of drooling Steel-Armored Ogres.

“Graaaaaaaa!”

“Groooooaaaar!”

“Roaaaaaaar!”

Rowling’s legs began to shake and tremble at the joy and delight evident in their roars. In the end, Rowling collapsed on the ground when he saw one of the Steel-Armored Ogres look at him.

The ogre grabbed him by the ankle with its huge hand and pulled him up.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaah!” Rowling shrieked. Paralyzed by the fear of having his bones broken while being chewed whole by that gruesome and hideous mouth, all he could do was scream.

Swoosh–!

The ogre opened its huge mouth and slowly brought the arm holding Rowling toward its mouth.

Spurt–!

But then, something surprising happened. The Steel-Armored Ogre’s sturdy and tough skin, which they needed to slash repeatedly with their swords just to inflict the most minor damage, was cut down all at once. To be exact, the ogre trying to eat Rowling was sliced in half.

Immediately after that, a man holding a frying pan in one hand appeared. The man put his hand in his mouth and whistled.

Fweeeeeeet–!

At that moment, some of the ogres' eyes turned toward the man.

“Graaaaaaaaa!”

“Roaaaaaar!”

“Groaaaaaar!”

Tens of thousands of Steel-Armored Ogre turned toward the man and began to charge at him like crazy. They looked like they had completely lost their minds. But then, something shocking happened.

Splurt–!

Slash– Slash, slash, slash, slash– Slash, slash, slash, slash–!

The ogres could not even reach the man with their fingertips as blood started to spurt out of their bodies. Several lightning bolts fell from the sky and devoured them. Now, all of the ogres’ attention was on the man alone.

At that moment, Rowling realized something. “Heok… No- No way!”

Rowling’s eyes widened when he saw the ogres approaching the mysterious man. Amidst the commotion, no ogres paid attention to him and the remaining surviving knights.

That was right. The man was trying to stop all of the ogres on his own and buying enough time for them to run away.

“Rowling, quick!”

“We have to get out of here as quickly as possible!”

“We have to turn back and run!”

Rowling’s colleagues urged him to stand. The other knights continued to push and lead him away. However, he kept looking back at the man, and the worry was evident. But he soon discovered that he did not need to worry.

‘Ah– Aaaaaah…!’

Knight Rowling was the type of person who would idolize heroes and strong people. And the man, surrounded by tens of thousands of ogres, was strong and a hero.

Rowling felt incredibly grateful to the man. Before running away, he shouted, “Th- Thank you! May– May I please have your name?! What’s your name?!”

But the ogres’ roars drowned out his and the man’s voices.

“Graaaaaaaa!”

“Roaaaaaaar!”

“Groaaaaaaar!”

“Fu… delicious…”

Rowling saw the man muttering something, but he could not hear it at all. Rowling tried to perk his ears up and concentrate so that he could hear better.

“Potato!”

“...!”

Was the man’s name Potato? That was quite an unusual name, no? Even though it was unusual, Rowling kept the name deep in his heart.

‘My hero, Potato. I will never forget you, Lord Potato!’

***

Rhoando looked in the direction in which the man, who identified himself as the Food God, ran off.

“What’s the matter? Are you waiting for him?” The deputy commander asked.

However, Rhoando shook his head. “I’m just a bit worried. What if he went to challenge the Steel-Armored Ogres and died?”

“That’s impossible. He has run away.”

“That’s probably the case, right?”

In the first place, Rhoando had given the man an impossible task because he did not want him to get involved with them. He even mocked him by saying, ‘If you can do this, then I will call you hyung-nim from now on.’ It was a testament to the fact that the task was impossible, and there was no way the man would complete it.

‘Since he hasn’t returned yet, he should have run away, right?’ Rhoando thought as he moved to finish their preparations for battle.

“...Huh?” One of the mercenaries suddenly shouted in doubt.

Rhoando, who had heard the voice, followed the direction where the mercenary was looking. That was when he saw the man walking toward them.

The man walked among the mercenaries and dropped the steel armor he had obtained on the ground before Rhoando. It was the 100 kilograms of steel armor that they had agreed upon.

Thud–!

“...!” Rhoando looked at the man in surprise.

Then, the man said, “You did not forget your promise, did you?”

“...”

“...”

“...”

It was not only Rhoando; many other mercenaries made the same promise.

Rhoando stuttered, “Of– Of course. Hyung-nim.”

“That’s right. Ah, I have obtained a very reliable younger brother, huh? Hey, younger brother, how old are you this year?”

“I’m 675 years old this year,” Rhoando answered as he tried his hardest to keep calm.

God’s blood flowed in this man’s veins. This was the only comforting fact for Rhoando. There was a chance that they only have around a hundred-year difference in age, right?

But then, the man chuckled. “I’m 21 years old this year.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

Heavy silence pressed down on everyone present.