CH 634

Athenae’s Great Saintess Loyna was currently having a meeting with the Athenae Religion’s elders and popes.

“I don’t think it’s bad either. It seems like we can obtain a lot of benefits by forging a connection with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and engaging in some exchange,” One of the popes said.

The agenda that Saintess Loyna had presented this time was about constructing a temple in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, forging relations, and an exchange with them.

The Athenae Religion was known for not building a temple in other kingdoms or empires. However, Food God Minhyuk had made so many achievements that they were willing to overlook that.

Great Demon Verus and God of Snakes Elizabeth were enemies that the Athenae Religion were tasked to kill and get rid of. It was Minhyuk that took the lead in dealing with them. He had also saved the lives of the Pope and Saintess Loyna in the past. Also, Saintess Loyna’s position in the Athenae Religion had already grown to the point that more people believed in her than the popes.

“Shall we go to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, then?” Loyna asked.

The pride of the elders and the popes had reached the skies. For them to go to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to talk about the construction of the Athenae Religion’s temple? That would mean that they would be the one losing their faces. Still, the elders and the popes were also humans.

‘I heard that the Food God’s dishes are so wonderful that you will be able to hear Athenae’s voice once you have a taste.’

‘The members of Let’s Eat Sect that have tasted his dishes are all full of praises.’

‘The members of Let’s Eat Sect said that you would not be able to forget about it once you get a taste of it.’

They were very curious. However, they were reluctant to be the one to make the first step. Then, at that moment…

Knock, knock—

Someone knocked on the door. Once given permission to enter, a priest bowed politely and said, “The Beyond the Heavens King, the Food God, is asking the Athenae Religion for support from our priests.”

“Support from our priests?”

“Yes. He asked for support from high-leveled priests that specialize in healing.”

When the elders heard that, they thought that this was a chance.

“Ho, a priest specialized in healing? It seems like something urgent has come up. Since ‘he’ was the one that made the request first, how about we go and help him then?”

“That’s not so bad. ‘He’s’ the one that asked for support first after all.”

“Hahaha. Let’s go and help him for ‘one meal’ each.”

“…?” Loyna tilted her head in confusion after seeing their behavior. However, the pope took it a step further.

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“He asked for high-leveled priests. Since he requested it first, then it’s better if I go too. After all, this is the request that was placed by the Beyond the Heavens’ King.”

“There must be a patient in a critical situation. If I, a pope, go there personally, then the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will owe me a favor.”

In the meantime, the elders and popes continued to talk amongst themselves.

“Why don’t we take this opportunity to treat all of the sick and ailing in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?”

“That’s not bad either. Ah, why don’t we also gather the priests that want to go to Beyond the Heavens?”

Three hours after that talk…

“…?”

Loyna could not help but look at them in doubt. There were around 500 high-leveled Athenae Religion priests. They were priests that could exert tremendous power and could be considered to be as powerful as the legends in the world. But that was not all; there were also nearly 10,000 priests that had gathered and were preparing to leave.

“…?”

Loyna was confused. How many high-leveled priests did Food God Minhyuk actually ask for?

‘No, more than that, what is Minhyuk asking the priests’ help for?’ Loyna thought, thinking that it was a very serious matter.

***

Before Minhyuk started cooking, he recalled his experience dealing with God-grade ingredients. It did not matter if it was an ingredient or material, as long as they were God-grade, they would have trials and adversities added to them. Even if Minhyuk was just cooking, there were times when he felt like his body was burning. There was even a time when he felt like he was digging through hundreds of kilograms of food with a tiny shovel.

One thing was for sure. God-grade ingredients were not easy to use. Knowing this, Minhyuk thought that his HP would be insufficient for this, so he called for some priests to come to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

‘Hmm. I definitely need a heal shuttle.’

This was especially the case for Hyemin’sDaddy. Hyemin’sDaddy was the descendant of God of Blacksmiths Hepas, and not a unique case like Minhyuk. This meant that Hyemin’sDaddy’s HP volume, defenses, and resistance to abnormal status were very low. Unlike Minhyuk, there was a high chance that he could die when producing the artifact. So, Minhyuk sent someone to the Athenae Religion to ask Saintess Loyna for this favor.

‘Since they are busy people with high pride and egos, let’s just ask for the support of three or four high-leveled priests.’

This was how Minhyuk asked his letter of request to be delivered.

That was right. Minhyuk had sent a letter of request to Athenae Religion’s Great Saintess Loyna, not because there was a serious matter that they had to attend to, but because he simply needed a heal ‘shuttle’. However, Minhyuk certainly specified that three or four high-leveled priests were sufficient.

High-leveled priests also had the power to increase a buff’s duration. This was something that they needed. After all, the buff duration that they could get from Hepas and Arlene’s All Creation Bundle was very short. With the high-leveled priests' help, they could extend the buff duration, even if for a bit.

‘From what I know, high-leveled priests can only increase the buff duration once a day. To make up for that, he’ll just have to receive it over and over again.’

However, there was no way that the Athenae Religion would send a large number of high-leveled priests to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Minhyuk sighed in disappointment. Then, he used his Create-a-Recipe skill on Hyemin’sDaddy.

[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

[You can now check the recipe for Pork Backbone Stew (Gamjatang).]

[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

(Gamjatang Recipe for Hyemin’sDaddy)

Required Ingredients: Incarnation of Fire’s Backbone, Arlene’s Perilla Powder, Perilla Leaves Personally Grown by the God of Farming…(omitted)

Expected Dish Grade: Legendary ~ God

Expected Effects:

•A +5 increase in the God of Blacksmith’s Production and Crafting Skill.

•A 250% increase in DEX.

•A 70% decrease in production and crafting speed.

•Probability of getting higher rank artifacts will increase significantly.

•A +3 increase in all blacksmith’s skills.

•Upon creation of a higher rank artifact, the probability of creating another artifact of the same ranking will increase by 200% within three days. Probability can be duplicated.

The effects were worthy of admiration. Also, Minhyuk was able to replace most of the required ingredients with ‘God-rank’ ingredients.

‘Let’s see. The Incarnation of Fire’s Backbone can be replaced by the Lava Pig’s Backbone. The Perilla Leaves Personally Grown by the God of Farming can be replaced by Perilla Leaves Grown on Dewdrops…’

There was one fact that one could not overlook. Minhyuk was now replacing all of the ingredients with ‘God-grade’ ingredients. While they were just one-time use of God-grade ingredients, their effects were still shocking.

‘The moment I boil the Lava Pig’s Backbone, I will receive a tremendous amount of flame damage?! And what’s with this perilla leaf? Did they just place anything and everything in the abnormal status?!’ Minhyuk thought, frowning, ‘No, the Athenae production people put in things that people would not dare to try cooking anyway.’

That was right. Although they were God-grade ingredients from Hepas and Arlene’s All Creation Bundle, they seemed to be no different from the ingredients that Minhyuk had cooked before. If that was the case, he would likely suffer huge penalties the moment he started cooking.

Just like Minhyuk had expected, the bigger problem laid with Hyemin’sDaddy. After all, he had to produce artifacts while suffering enormous damage, just like what Minhyuk had done, and would also experience. However, the probability of Hyemin’sDaddy not holding out was very high.

‘Perhaps it’s really too much to ask him to make plenty of God-rank artifacts?’

Still, Minhyuk looked forward to getting at least two or three.

Just like that, Minhyuk began cooking. He soaked the gamjatang’s backbone in cold water to drain the blood. Then, he started boiling it. And the moment he started boiling it…

Crackle!

Flames soared from the pot where the pork backbone was boiling and engulfed Minhyuk.

Sizzlee—

“…Minhyuk?”

“Your Majesty Minhyuk!!!”

Hyemin’sDaddy and the other blacksmiths were appalled by what they saw. They were people that had rarely, perhaps even never, seen a God-grade ingredient being used.

Minhyuk’s HP rapidly decreased but he still kept on boiling the pork backbone. The only reason that he was able to last longer was because of potions and the priests’ heal.

Then, Minhyuk reached the point where he added the perilla powder. The name of the perilla powder was ‘God of Explosion’s Perilla Powder’.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Just like its name, the tiny powders of the perilla powder exploded around Minhyuk, piling even more damage on him.

“Keheok!!!”

[Your HP has dropped below 20%!]

‘That’s how he made a God-grade dish…’

‘That’s crazy.’

‘Is this the weight that one has to bear if they dare to challenge the Gods?’

As the explosions continued, Minhyuk tried to add perilla leaves. At that moment, Haze rushed inside to give her report, “Your Majesty, Saintess Loyna has just arrived but…”

“Loyna? Then, hurry up and ask for her help!”

“But…”

“Aaaaaaaargh! Haze, hurry!”

“Yes, sir!!!” Haze answered as she rushed back out.

Then, Minhyuk was attacked by the perilla leaves.

[The Venomous Witch’s Perilla Leaves are casting an abnormal status upon you.]

[It has a powerful power that can ignore your Thousand Poison Immune Body.]

[Your movements will become 60% slower.]

[You will not be able to use potions.]

[Your vision will turn white.]

Minhyuk’s eyes started to spin as Hyemin’sDaddy and the other blacksmiths watched him in horror.

‘Even if it’s His Majesty Minhyuk, what can he even do against those overpowered, God-grade ingredients alone?’

In fact, Minhyuk was also thinking, ‘Did I underestimate the difficulty?’ as his vision began to shake and tremble.

***

Beyond the Heavens’ Blacksmith Helm smiled bitterly as he looked at Minhyuk, who was about to collapse. He thought, ‘Is this person truly the king of a nation?’

From what Helm could see, Minhyuk was just too reckless and foolish. Minhyuk had made several God-grade dishes. But this time, it was different. He was trying to make a dish by using several God-grade dishes together. Because of that, he was placed in a situation where he had to endure a huge disaster with his body alone.

The surroundings were already in chaos as the Beyond the Heavens’ priests shouted loudly.

“Save His Majesty!!!”

“Your Majesty Minhyuk!!!”

“Priests! Heal! Use Heal!!!”

“Our heals can’t keep up!!!”

“We can’t offset the abnormal status. It’s too strong!!!”

Helm had only been here for a week. He had high expectations for Beyond the Heavens. Helm clicked his tongue, thinking that he could at least see that man die while cooking. It would at least be worth his time.

But then, at that moment, hundreds of voices rang loudly.

“Great Heal!”

“Great Heal!”

“Great Heal!”

“…!”

Although Helm was a blacksmith, he was aware that Great Heal was something that only select high-leveled priests could use. On top of that, Great Heal was a skill that could easily exert three times the power of ordinary heal, and even had the effect that could help one increase their abnormal status’ resistance.

In an instant, hundreds of crosses made with light appeared in the air above them before falling down and wrapping around Minhyuk’s body. A bright light burst out and healed the burnt flesh on Minhyuk’s body, as well as the injuries that he suffered from the explosions before.

Swish—

Swish, swish—

Four men wearing the stylish, golden papal uniform stepped forward. Leading them was Saintess Loyna, dressed in her pristine priest’s robe. Behind them stood around 10,000 Athenae Religion priests. All of them stepped forward and said…

“Heal.”

“Heal.”

“Heal.”

“…!”

Helm’s breath got caught in his throat. He was also aware that Minhyuk had asked for help from Athenae Religion just in case something happened. He thought that perhaps Minhyuk, as the king, asked for help like this, ‘Send all the people that are free, something important has happened!!!’

From what he could see, the Athenae Religion’s popes, Saintess and priests had all come running at Minhyuk’s beck and call. This was certainly very shocking. Were they telling Helm that the Athenae Religion’s Saintess and popes were actually afraid of Minhyuk?!

‘Crazy…!’

Helm immediately threw out all mocking thoughts toward the Food God. Goodness, how could he not?! After all, Minhyuk just called for them once, but the four popes, the Saintess, and even ten thousand priests came here to become his heal shuttle!

Meanwhile, Minhyuk, whose entire body had healed, thought, ‘Why did those hyungs and Loyna suddenly come here…?’

In fact, Minhyuk was the one that was most curious about why they came here. After all, he only asked for the support of three to four high-leveled priests.