(Vital Strike) 

Active Skill

Genre: Bardy Swordsmanship 

Mana Required: 20

Cooldown: 1 minute

Effects: Additional 15% ATK power for each successful strike

(Two Consecutive Quick Assault) 

Active Skill 

Genre: Bardy Swordsmanship 

Mana Required: 30

Cooldown: 1 minute

Effects: Each sword swing will deal damage twice. 

(Bardy Swordsmanship) 

Active Skill

Genre: Bardy Swordsmanship 

Mana Required: 50

Cooldown: 15 minutes

Effects: +7 to all 5 basic stats for 5 minutes once the skill is activated. 

The last skill, Bardy Swordsmanship, was tantamount to a powerful buff, while the remaining skills, Vital Strike and Two Consecutive Quick Assault, did not sound too bad as well. The time taken to comprehend each of the skills would differ for individuals.

In fact, the Bardy Swordsmanship could be grasped in roughly a week. However, Minhyuk only needed 3 days to learn it. 

"It's not too bad!" 

After saying those words, Minhyuk swung his sword at Roina again. 

***

At night. 

During the Bardy Swordsmanship training, Minhyuk had suggested to Roina that they should make a round trip through Isbin Village. He was not able to buy the ingredients in the village by himself, and he really wanted to finish his self-imposed quest to eat the most delicious chicken. Besides, Roina was clearly very nice to him, so he thought of repaying her kindness. 

‘Of course.’

'We'll eat fried chicken too. Huhuhu.' 

Minhyuk and Roina proceed through town before going to her house, which was a lot nicer compared to Valen's house. Furthermore, there were plenty of other NPCs and players in the village, therefore, it did not look lonely. 

"Well, let's start." 

Craaaack—

"Why do you look more serious now than when you're training?" Roina had remarked when saw the determination in his eyes. 

Minhyuk only grinned at her in reply, and continued to carry the groceries with Roina beside him.

'He's crazy… Is he going to open a chicken restaurant?! Why did he buy so much?!' 

However, Minhyuk just continued to bring in the groceries in silence.

Over the past few days, by hunting the chickens which dropped tiny amounts of gold drops each, and adding the 80,000 gold that dropped when he caught the golden chicken, he had amassed a small fortune. Now, he had enough money to buy more food and ingredients. 

He also had his food storage inventory…

'Ah, it's so nice when I think about it!' 

Finally, there was his secret weapon. 

‘Well, let's get started now.’

***

Fried chicken. 

It was indubitably a cuisine that men and women of all ages like. Young people nowadays often call this cooking style of chicken the 'almighty chicken'. You would even be able to see comments all over SNS like 'Are you going to eat fried chicken today?!', etc.

That is how popular fried chicken is these days.

One would only need to order it, and hot, savory, fried chicken would be delivered straight to their doorsteps. Sometimes, people would get intoxicated with the smell if they happened to get in an elevator with a delivery man holding a bag of fried chicken. 

***

Minhyuk first went into the bathroom, and Roina watched him blankly as he brought out a large basin in his hands. 

Glug glug~ 

He poured the milk he bought into the basin. Then, he started to put in the chicken that had been cleaned well previously.

‘This is an excellent way to remove the odor of the meat.’

He did not have much time as he had a lot to prepare, so he pulled them out after 30 minutes. He then cut the chicken into pieces and scored it well; that way the soft and tender insides would be fried well. 

He added a 1/2 spoon of salt, a 1/2 spoon of pepper, and 1 spoon of ginger juice per chicken.

‘If ginger juice is not available, then you can use cooking wine, rice wine or soju, as alternatives’

He mixed it with his hands, then left it for another 30 minutes. 

He then added 1 cup of basic starch and 2 eggs produced by the golden chicken to the well-seasoned chicken. Finally, he added a spoonful of curry powder to further enhance the smell, as well as to introduce the savory flavor of curry. 

He proceeded to mix the batter carefully. 

Now, the measurements were based on only one chicken. With that said, in total, Minhyuk had used almost a barrel and a half of salt. He also used the same amount of pepper. 

He then used chopsticks to pick up the pieces of seasoned chicken meat, and dropped it into the frying pan filled with oil, one by one.

Sizzleeeee—

‘Ah, it's very aggressive.’ 

‘The frying sound is very strong!’

‘The sound of chicken going into the oil.’ 

If Minhyuk was not certain that he would be finally able to eat fried chicken, the loud sound of the chicken frying was the confirmation! 

The pieces of chicken danced in the oil. Minhyuk gulped as he watched them move. 

Gulp—

"Hehe…." 

He smiled as he saw the chicken slowly turning golden brown. Then, he took them out of the pan and tapped them on the kitchen towel to dry off the excess oil. 

As he chewed on his hard bread, Minhyuk repeated the process again! 

"I'm going out for a bit." 

"Yes, Instructor." 

Then, Roina disappeared for about 2 hours before she reappeared, with her hands full of things. 

"I bought some soft bread for you." 

As she entered the kitchen, she froze momentarily. 

"Are… Are you in a cooking class……?! What's this 150 servings for?! Are you preparing a meal for an entire squadron?!" 

The kitchen was full of fried chicken. 

"Oh, Instructor Valen had the same reaction. As expected of people in love, they really think alike." 

Roina's cheeks turned red when she heard those words. 

"I-is that so?" 

'Huhuhuhu. I definitely have the gift of gab.' 

Minhyuk carefully glossed over the absurd situation with his flattering words. 

He had kept a portion of chicken for Instructor Valen as his share, together with the remaining in his food storage inventory, so that it would still be warm later. 

Minhyuk stepped out happily.

“Wa, wait…!”

“Yes?” 

“Don’t eat all of the food,” Roina chided.

Hyuk!

Minhyuk froze, that thought had actually crossed his mind. 

“I understand.” Minhyuk chuckled awkwardly before hurrying over to Instructor Valen's place.

***

Minhyuk passed a whole fried chicken to Instructor Valen.

“Oh, so this is the food called fried chicken? It smells really nice.” 

“Yes! Hehe. Please try it. Come on.” 

Minhyuk suddenly stopped talking as he recalled something. He then took something out of his food storage inventory and handed it over to Instructor Valen. 

“This is my regards for you, Instructor.” 

“Oh… Boy, that’s great.” 

Valen had a pleasant smile on his face as he received what Minhyuk gave him. 

“Are you leaving so soon?”

Minhyuk nodded, “I was thinking to… However, I’ll drop by before leaving tomorrow.” 

For some reason, he felt that he should not stay with Valen today. 

‘Instructor Valen, too…’ 

As Minhyuk thought about it… He had already turned around. 

Valen looked down on the chicken silently. He returned to his house after his shift ended. 

It went without saying that Minhyuk had delivered the chicken along with a letter.

[I’m very glad that I could have a meal with Squad Commander like this.] 

Valen smiled lightly as he stood up and opened his drawer. There was a hair tie with red flowers in it. He took it out and stared at it blankly for a while, before sitting back down again. 

Clink! 

A light sound rang out as he popped open what Minhyuk gave him… a canned beer. He felt the cool liquid going down his throat as he slowly downed the canned beer. 

Gulp, gulp—

“Kghhk.” 

There was a time when he felt that it was a pity to have Roina as a squad member. She was a genius, but she never got along well with her comrades. However, she was extremely outstanding and that was the cause of her arrogance. 

In the end, she nearly had an accident and Valen saved her. After that incident, he felt that the look in her eyes towards him had changed, but he did not pay heed. 

One time, he witnessed her training alone. That was when he knew. 

‘Ah, she wasn’t just a genius. She was someone who worked very hard.’

At that time, he felt a little something take root in his heart. Even though he did not express himself well while exchanging letters with Roina, he felt that the feeling grew day by day. 

He did not even know why he had bought a red hair tie for her while walking down the street. He began to write a letter, looking as if he had made up his mind. 

***

“Hoo! Hoo!” Minhyuk shouted excitedly. 

The setting was just right. It was already night time and there was grass surrounding him everywhere. 

Minhyuk laid down a mat. It felt like he had gone to meet his friends, whom he had not seen for a long time, along the Han River with some fried chicken he got from the delivery man. Minhyuk then placed the golden chicken that he fried, on top of the mat. It was very big so he sliced up quite a lot of meat. Then, he brought out his secret weapon. 

Beer. 

It was what he had given to Valen. 

‘Beer definitely goes best with fried chicken.’

Fizz! 

“Kgghk, what a sound. Oh, oh, where do you think you’re going?” 

Sluurp—

Minhyuk spoke to the foam that was threatening to spill as he quickly drank it. 

“Kyaaha!” As he exclaimed out in joy, he slowly lifted up a chicken leg. 

Guulp—

His saliva started to drool like a waterfall… 

“Aah~”  He opened his mouth wide and took a big bite. 

Crunch, crunch, crunch! 

The first charm of fried chicken was the sound it made at the first bite. 

Chew, chew. 

The second charm was the crispy texture of the skin that one can feel when chewing. 

And the third charm was…

The hidden, milky-white meat that one would come in contact with, once the fried outer skin was bitten through. 

“I’m… I’m so happy…!” 

Minhyuk smiled widely, his eyes closed. 

Gulp, gulp—

‘Isn’t it just good manners to bring out plenty of foaming cold beer while eating chimaek[1]?’

“Kyaha! This is how it should taste! This is it!!” 

Fried chicken and beer. It was the best thing to eat after a hard day’s work at the office, or with friends at the park. One could even enjoy it alone at home while watching TV. 

Minhyuk started to eat more with great relish. Suddenly, he looked up towards the sky. The moon was shining brightly tonight. 

“Hmm~ I have delivered chicken that was filled with love.” 

Minhyuk had already noticed that Valen did have Roina in his heart. That was what he thought as he started digging into the fried chicken again. 

“Mhhmm, this is very, very delicious~” 

***

The next day, he was training to increase the proficiency of his skill. To increase the proficiency of a skill, a player could either utilize skill points, or use the skill frequently. However, another method to increase proficiency was via training.

In fact, Minhyuk noticed that training in Roina’s Bardy Swordsmanship was a high-intensity workout that could lower his fullness stat. So, he kept on training in it and as a result, his skill proficiency increased.  Without fail, he completed his four hours of exercise for the day as well. 

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

[You are able to eat again.] 

[You have lowered your fullness to 0% for a total of four times in the set time.] 

[You have achieved the Secret Quest ‘He Who Strives to Eat.’] 

[You have received +5 in all of your 5 basic stats.] 

[Your Digestion Skill has leveled up.] 

“……hmmm?!”

‘A secret quest? I think I’ve heard about it before..’ 

Quests in Athenae were ranked from E~S. There had also been some rumors of special quests floating about. A hidden quest was literally a special quest, one where the player did not know they were undergoing. They would be rewarded once they completed the quest. 

On the other hand, a legendary quest was one that either came from the legends, or from someone who offered a legendary quest.

“The hard work I did just so I could eat, was in fact a secret quest?” 

Minhyuk grinned. He had only done his training in order to eat. However, what caught his attention more was the notification about his ‘Digestion’ skill leveling up. He checked the skill right away. 

(Digestion) 

Passive Skill

Rank: ? 

Level: 2

Mana Required: 0

Cooldown: 0

Effects: Calorie consumption will be 2x faster.

Description: It lets you burn calories faster when you exercise. The term ‘exercise’ refers to the average time that the general public uses to work-out, which is 1 hour. If you continue to work out for 1 hour, it can help you burn 20,000 calories. 

“….!” 

Minhyuk’s eyes widened. He felt more surprised than when he caught the golden chicken, or when he received Valen's sword. 

It was clearly written in the description that he could consume his calories 2x faster. 

Before, Minhyuk had to train for 4~5 hours just to lower his fullness to 0%, but now, it could be shortened to 2 hours only. That was more than enough. 

Minhyuk did not know it then, but it was the system’s reward for his efforts.