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Chapter 726: The Sage’s Tower of Magic

—Even if I die, a banquet will be held for you here once every year.

Not long after, Allen fell into slumber in the Abyss. Since then, every year, his friends would visit the Food God’s Tower. Former Food God Allen had used his special power to allow his friends to eat delicious dishes whenever they came here. This setting continued even after his death.

All of Allen’s friends loved and cherished him deeply. That was why they wanted to find his grave. However, that was impossible. Their souls continued to come to this abandoned tower year after year in hopes that they would see him again, or eat the dishes that he cooked for them again one day.

Now, Minhyuk, Allen’s successor, appeared in front of them. The moment he entered the tower, all of the souls that longed to see Allen gathered together.

“…”

Minhyuk felt a huge pressure on his shoulders at the sight of them. There was a Continental Emperor sitting on his throne, a Monster Lord sitting cross-legged atop a dragon’s head, and even three gods looking at him with interest.

‘The lowest, yet the greatest god. This name suits Allen the most, no?’

He never became an Absolute God but there were so many people waiting for him to return. It just showed how much they treasured Allen during their lifetime.

It was also at that moment that Minhyuk realized the method that Andeiro told him to save Brod. ‘Together with them…?’

Then, Andeiro spoke, “Originally, you would have to come to this tower when you’re stronger. But even without my recognition, you were still able to enter this tower. That inevitably changes a few things.”

[The Class-Specific Quest: Food God’s Friends can be modified!]

Minhyuk realized that he would eventually come to this place once he reached a certain level. But based on the notification that he just heard, the contents of the original quest for that specific level could be modified.

“However, it might also remain the same. You might still have to come out of here and return only if you have the power to deal with it.”

The notification had clearly said that the quest ‘Food God’s Friends’ could be changed. In other words, the change might or might not happen, depending on the choice that he made right here and now.

“You have to know that if things change, you will have to take on larger risks.”

[If the Class-Specific Quest is changed, two Food God’s skills will be randomly chosen and deleted upon failure!]

“…!”

Minhyuk’s eyes grew wide at the incredibly harsh penalty for quest failure. Just the thought of skills like ‘Food God’s Cooking Skills’, ‘Create a Recipe’, or ‘Let’s Have a Meal’ getting deleted made him feel terrible. It would truly be a huge loss. Especially ‘Food God’s Cooking Skill’, a skill that had been playing a huge role in Minhyuk’s buffed dishes.

‘Is this the price that I have to pay for testing the system?’

One would think differently and say that this was because the rewards had changed, so they had to take on a bigger risk for trying to gain power beyond their reach.

However, Minhyuk did not take too long to think it over.

“I will do it.”

“…I understand,” Andeiro answered calmly, but deep inside he was quite surprised. In a way, one could describe this situation as the king risking two of his greatest powers just to save his vassal.

The notifications rang at that moment.

[The Class-Specific Quest: Food God’s Friends has been modified!]

[The Class-Specific Quest: Food God’s Friends’ Recognition has been created!]

Ring!

[Class-Specific Quest: Food God’s Friends’ Recognition]

Rank: ???

Requirements: Food God

Rewards: The aid of the former Food God’s friends. Unknown and sealed Food God’s relic.

Penalty for Failure: The destruction of two Food God-specific skills.

Description: You have changed the contents of the quests. The friends and comrades of the previous Food God are either looking at you favorably or looking at you with an unpleasant gaze. Gain all of their recognition.

‘As expected.’

Only after he received all of their recognition would he be able to save Brod. However, how should he go about doing it?

Then, Andeiro snapped his fingers.

“Keuhaaaaaaack!”

An ear-piercing roar rang loudly as an unidentified storage box appeared. The storage box was covered with bright red blood and fastened tightly by dozens of unidentified hands, as if they did not want anyone to open it.

“God’s Cursed Ingredient,” Andeiro said as he handed the box to Minhyuk.

The moment his hands made contact with the box, the hands that fastened it tightly disappeared completely.

“Some call them the ‘Torturous Ingredients’.”

Minhyuk could already guess what he needed to do. “Am I supposed to cook something using this ingredient?”

“That’s right. As you can guess from the moniker that was given, God’s Cursed Ingredients can cause torturous pain to the one cooking them. However, if you successfully cook the dish, you will be able to create God-grade dishes.”

“Is that an unconditional result?”

“Indeed. But the process won’t be easy. Ah. You have to know that the pain that you will feel is only an illusion. However, you won’t be able to distinguish that.”

“…”

Minhyuk looked down at the hideous and terrifying storage box and smiled. Andeiro, who saw this, could not understand. This was the first time that he had seen someone smile when given a cursed ingredient.

“Why are you smiling?”

“The dish created using this ingredient must be delicious, right?”

“…I suppose so. But the process would be very difficult.”

“Then, that means that I can treat Brod to a delicious meal.”

“…”

Andeiro’s heart ached when he heard those words. Rather than thinking of the pain that he would experience, he was thinking about the one that he would be cooking for, smiling at the thought of that person being happy.

‘Or is it just because he’s doing this for Lord Brod?’

Minhyuk stared at the storage box and asked, “What are the ingredients stored inside?”

“You will get whatever ingredient that you want. The moment you take them out, the pain will start to spread through your body.”

Minhyuk closed his eyes for a moment, pondering over what kind of dish Brod would want to eat. Although it might seem uncharacteristic for someone with a build like Brod, he actually liked fried dishes or rice bowl dishes.

After pondering for a moment, Minhyuk finally made a decision. ‘Pork sirloin.’

Clack—

The surroundings instantly changed the moment Minhyuk opened the storage box.

Crackle—

A river of lava was flowing right in front of Minhyuk, its blazing heat engulfing his entire existence. Just taking a breath could easily heat up his nose and lungs.

[You have acquired God’s Cursed Pork Sirloin.]

Minhyuk began to cook the moment he heard the notifications. The dish that he was trying to cook was curry rice and tonkatsu. One could mix their curry with rice, or dip their tonkatsu in the curry sauce. Both ways of eating were definitely excellent.

[Your STR has quickly depleted.]

[Pain will continuously spread all throughout your body. It will feel like you are suffering from a terrible burn.]

Just when Minhyuk felt like he was getting used to it, a blazing heat spread all over his body. Nevertheless, Minhyuk still started cooking. He did not give up and continued to move his hands.

He first tried to chop and dice the carrots, potatoes, and onions using his ‘Ingredient Acquisition Skill’.

[You cannot use the ‘Ingredient Acquisition Skill’ when cooking the Cursed Pork Sirloin.]

However, a bolt out of the blue rang in his ears. The Ingredient Acquisition Skill was a skill that allowed Minhyuk to slice, dice and chop his ingredients to his desired shape and size all at once. But, that had become impossible. Minhyuk had no choice but to wash the potatoes and carrots in the water and do it himself.

Just when he was about to wash them in water, his hands were suddenly covered in a chill.

[You have a frostbite.]

[It would be difficult to move your hands.]

“Urk!”

Intense pain struck his hands. It felt like hundreds of sharp fragments of ice were stabbing through his hands. However, he still continued to wash ingredients despite his trembling hands.

Slaaaash—

“Keuhaaaaaack!”

The moment he held the knife to chop and slice the ingredients, Minhyuk felt a bone-deep pain piercing through his left arm. It was as if a knife had stabbed through his flesh and bones. Whenever he sliced or chopped the ingredients, he felt like his entire being was also being slashed and hacked.

“Uwaaaaaack!”

Even if Athenae was a virtual reality game where the sense of pain was reduced, continuous exposure to pain would affect one’s mental state. But, Minhyuk still soldiered on.

After he finished preparing all of the ingredients, he dissolved the curry powder in water and put everything inside the pot and turned the heat on.

Tick, tick, tick, tick—

When the fire started to boil the water, Minhyuk saw something sticky rising swiftly, it was so fast that it had already covered up to his ankles.

[You have fallen into an illusion!]

It felt like he was also boiling just as the ingredients on the pot were boiling. Everything felt so hot, like he was melting all over. Just like Andeiro said, he did not realize that he had already fallen into an illusion.

At that moment, Minhyuk was gripped tightly with fear, and for the first time in a long while, felt like he wanted to give up from the sensation that he was feeling.

***

“Aaaaaah! Uwaaaaaaack!”

The former Food God’s friends were all watching Minhyuk scream as he cooked in the middle of the field. They could not see what he was suffering from, or how much pain he was in.

.

Meanwhile, Andeiro looked at him and thought, ‘I hope you can overcome this.’

The Continental Emperor, garbed with the mane of a lion, said, “Even Allen failed to cook God’s Cursed Ingredient.”

“Don’t you think that’s too much? It’s too crazy.”

“Hmph. So what if it’s crazy? There is no way that such a person will be able to surpass Allen.”

Their reactions and opinions were varied. Some felt sorry for the Food God’s successor, while some felt that it was a pity that the person that inherited the power of the Food God was nothing but a mere human being.

“What’s the biggest challenge here?”

Andeiro answered the question, “You will see the thing that you fear the most. Even Allen couldn’t overcome that.”

“There’s no way that a mere brat can do something that even Allen can’t do,” one of the gods mocked.

Allen was one of the gods and the only god that approached the realms of the Absolute Gods.

In the end, Minhyuk collapsed.

“…”

“…”

Then, he suddenly grabbed his head and rolled around on the ground.

“It has started. The thing that he feared the most has appeared in front of him and become his current reality.”

Just like mentioned, Minhyuk was currently experiencing the thing that he feared the most.

Minhyuk shouted at the empty space in front of him, “…Uncle Munsoo.”

Everyone held their breath.

“I’m hungry. Please open the door.”

When Minhyuk was at the height of his suffering from his eating addiction and they could not find a cure, he had decided to undergo the worst treatment possible himself. He was locked inside a room where he was forced to fast. Back then, the thing that he feared the most was hunger.

Minhyuk moved as if he was banging on the door. “Uncle, I’m begging you! Please, please open the door. I’m so hungry! I’m hungry!!! Just let me eat something, anything!!!”

There was no hope for him to live after suffering from his eating addiction for a very long time. During that time, Minhyuk was among the only three people that had the disease. Out of the three of them, one had died. Before them, all of the people that had the disease had died before they reached the age of 20 due to the complications brought about by hyper obesity.

“I’m, I’m hungry…!”

When Minhyuk fell down again, he started to swallow something. That something was none other than the tissue that was left inside the room. Everyone watching him frowned when they saw him cram something madly in his mouth.

Then, the sight in front of Minhyuk changed again. This time, it showed Korea’s top conglomerate, the Ilhwa Group, Chairman Kang Minhoo and his successor, Kang Minhyuk. Countless people began to point their fingers at Minhyuk, who was suffering from eating addiction. They cursed him and called him a pig and dragged his father down with him.

In Minhyuk’s head, tens of thousands of people were shouting ‘pig’, ‘die’, or ‘you deserve to die!’ at him. In the end, all he could do was grab his head and roll around.

“Ugh, aaaaaaaaaaaack!!! I want to live too, I also want to live!!! Please save me!!!”

The Continental Emperor shook his head when he saw Minhyuk scream like that. “…It’s over.”

“Andeiro. That’s enough. Stop him from cooking.”

“As expected, he’s nothing more than a brat.”

Adren, one of the gods, shook her head when she heard someone say that Minhyuk was nothing but a brat. Adren, who was beautiful enough to be called the Goddess of Beauty, was once called the God of Benevolence. She had the power to see the pain of another.

She spoke up, “I don’t think he’s a brat.”

“…What did you see?”

“He is suffering from a terrible disease, a disease that forces him to eat and keep on eating even if his stomach is already bulging and he feels like he is about to explode. That’s the disease that he has.”

“What…?”

“It’s like a curse. It’s a disease where his body cannot stand the hunger. And it is not something that he can control. Even if his airways are blocked by food and he is at the risk of dying, he will still continue to eat and eat. He has been suffering from that disease for a very long time. It is a very terrible disease that could probably reap the lives of thousands.”

The expressions of everyone present turned ugly when they heard those words.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah! Save me! I want to live! I’m hungry!”

“…Stop the trial.” The Continental Emperor shook his head and the others also agreed with him.

Meanwhile, those that did not pay him any heed could only sigh and mumble ‘As expected’ as they turned to look away. Then, Andeiro grabbed the storage box. Once he placed God’s Cursed Ingredients back inside the storage box, everything would be sealed and it would be over.

One of the legends, the Monster Lord, clicked his tongue. “In the end, is there no one talented enough to surpass Food God Allen? Perhaps humans are truly weak…”

When he turned his head while saying those words, the God of Benevolence Adren murmured, “…only… person…”

“What?” The Monster Lord looked at her suspiciously.

Minhyuk, who was rolling on the ground while holding his head, gasped and said, “…will… live…”

Everyone immediately turned to look at Minhyuk. They realized that the words that were coming out of his mouth had changed.

“I will live.”

The words that came out of his mouth were no longer ‘save me’, but ‘I will live’. They watched as Minhyuk supported himself with one hand and struggled to stand up, his eyes shining brightly and with clarity.

“I said, I will live.”

Everyone gaped at him. Adren was looking at Minhyuk in disbelief as he grabbed his cooking utensils and continued cooking.

She recalled that the Monster Lord asked her about the meaning of the words that she murmured earlier. So, Adren gulped dryly while looking at Minhyuk and began, “He…”

Minhyuk moved around busily again.

“He’s the only person that has overcome that disease.”