Leveling Up through Eating

Balaman, Minhyuk’s new subordinate and the one hailed as the One who is Dead but Not Dead, looked like an ordinary human with pale skin. Since he was not a summons, he did not have the restriction of a summoning time and could stay outside for as long as Minhyuk wanted.

This Balaman, who only had a bit of ego left, and his Black Skull Knight Order had become slaves of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They received the slaves’ brand, which would make them explode if they ever harmed the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

They were also sent to the Breath of Lava Mines, a place that was five times more difficult to work in compared to other regular mines. However, they were trained knights and soldiers, so they could endure living and working in such environments. Since they were sent to places that were almost impossible for regular people to mine, the Beyond the Heavens Empire obtained great wealth and fortune.

The Beyond the Heavens Empire also treated them less than half of what the prisoners from the Qingdao Kingdom received. This was proven by the fact that they were only given cabins that were close to collapsing.

Balaman sat atop one of the boulders with a dazed look. Although he had only a bit of ego left, he could still feel his emotions.

‘This is the first time in my life, no?’

That was right. This was the first time for Balaman to rest and relax. Although he was just sitting down, the gentle breeze that blew past him made him feel very good, while the chirping of the birds brought his mind peace. It felt very strange to him.

‘The dream I have been chasing all my life has disappeared, but...’

He felt so at ease. The slaves, who were working in the mines, also surrounded him. It did not matter if he was alive or dead; these people would never forget they belonged to him.

“Yes, sir!”

“That’s a good idea.”

This was the first time in decades that they would do something other than training, training, and even more training. Balaman’s men carried the materials and began to hammer away clumsily.

Clang– Clang– Clang–!

They worked together to renovate and repair their shabby cabins with bright smiles on their faces and sweat dripping down their foreheads. Although Balaman’s face remained expressionless, he felt happy deep inside.

Rumble–

In the end, the house that they were working on collapsed.

“...”

“...”

“Lord- Lord Balaman?”

As mentioned before, these people had only been training for decades. Their knowledge of architecture was zero. They thought that all they needed to do was hammer at it.

Balaman stared at the cabin that had completely collapsed. With his face devoid of expression, he said, “I’m… fine. I… don’t feel… the cold… or… the heat…”

He was dead and alive at the same time. It was fine for him, but that was not the case with the others.

“The temperature today is -17 degrees Celsius.”

“...”

Balaman turned silent.

***

Minhyuk listened to Haze’s report.

“The Luvien Empire has sent ten million platinum. Fufu. It’s enough to fill the gap created when our executives suddenly disappeared.”

Minhyuk had been scolded a bit by Haze. This was because he suddenly summoned the Beyond the Heavens’ executive, which was a very unreasonable and ridiculous thing to do. But now that Prince Cardin had sent ten million platinum, they could easily fill in the gap they left behind during that time.

After Haze left, Shadow Luo knocked on the door. Minhyuk had entrusted Shadow Luo with the surveillance of Balaman and his men. He had come to report on their current situation.

“After doing this and that… in the end, they broke all their houses.”

“...?”

“When they saw me, they asked if I could give them another house. They have been clamoring, saying they would lose their muscles if they slept out in the cold.”

“Ah…”

At that moment, Minhyuk realized, ‘They are addicted to working out…’

Their house breaking down was not a problem; the only thing that mattered was working out and exercising. Minhyuk could understand them to some extent.

‘They have been training almost their entire lives. Aside from training, the only thing that they could do was to work out. It’s only natural that they wish to keep their body fit.’

Beyond the Heavens Empire welcomed the thought of not wanting their bodies to wither.

“Take the expenses for the house from their salary later.”

But in the end, they were slaves, and they should never show any preferential treatment toward them. While Minhyuk was thinking about how to make up for the losses that they had gained this time, Luo gave another report.

“Ah. They said chicken breasts, eggs, and unmixed salad are fine for their meals. They also said they wanted to maintain and build their bodies properly while resting.”

“...”

Thanks to that, Minhyuk was able to save money on their food. As someone who loved to eat, Minhyuk could not understand them. But since that was what they wanted, then so be it.

Haze, who left after saying that she would count every platinum of the ten million platinum they received, soon came back.

Minhyuk told her, “Haze, what about the thing I asked you to look for information on?”

“We cannot find information about The Teacher Beradon even after checking it with Abel. So, I had to search through tens of thousands of books. I recently found a short snippet from one of the books.”

Minhyuk listened quietly to Haze.

“The Teacher has had two disciples.”

The one Haze was talking about did not include Prince Cardin. If it was information found from an ancient book, then it meant that they were disciples that he had back when he was still a candidate to become one of the Eight Pillars.

‘As usual with this game, Athenae, they will hide hints and only reveal it bit by bit.’

They even wrote one small snippet among tens of thousands of books as a hint.

‘There’s a high chance that these two disciples were extraordinary and special.’

Minhyuk was quite curious about them.

“Haze, I’m a bit stagnant these days.”

Of course, Haze was fully aware that Minhyuk no longer had a path that would allow him to grow even further. Fortunately, he became an Eight Pillar’s Successor. Then, he found out about the existence of The Teacher. It was like raining after a long drought.

“Can I focus on my growth now?”

Minhyuk had to ask this question because he was the head of an empire.

Haze nodded. “That’s alright. After all, you were able to push forward and make the Beyond the Heavens Empire grow even further in just a few short months.”

What Haze meant was that he could do whatever he wanted by himself and play around for a while.

Minhyuk smiled. “Then, I’ll be back later.”

He immediately stood up and set off to find The Teacher, who was once a candidate to become an Eight Pillar.

***

Events were something that every game had. Depending on what type of event was being held, it could bring back players who have left the game and increase the number of current players. There was one clear thing. Whatever the game was, the company that produced the game would most certainly host events.

But unlike other games, Athenae, which was developed by Joy. Co. Ltd., had relatively fewer events. While other games held events once every two months, players of Athenae had to wonder if they would even get one or two events in a year.

It has already been three years since Athenae was first launched. To celebrate its third anniversary, they prepared an event for the game. President Kang Taehoon was standing behind a podium to discuss the event.

Athenae was just going to hold an event, but it was already attracting the public's attention. Many people had their eyes on Joy Co. Ltd. and were waiting for the event to be unveiled.

Click, click, click–

Like the reporters and viewers, President Kang Taehoon, who stood in front of the reporters and received the baptism of camera flashes, felt very emotional.

He opened his mouth and said, “This event is only open to players below Level 650.”

A reporter immediately asked, “Players below Level 650? Isn’t Player Minhyuk the only one who has achieved Level 650?”

“Is this an event made to exclude Player Minhyuk?”

The reporters wondered if Joy Co. Ltd. had imposed sanctions and restrictions on Minhyuk’s growth because his power was already too overwhelming. Kang Taehoon did not comment on that. But there was one certain thing.

‘This is not made to put sanctions or restrictions on him.’

They had already decided to exclude players at Level 650 and above a year after the event was planned.

After the commotion died down, President Kang Taehoon continued. “For one month, all players will receive a three times increase in EXP Acquisition Rate and Artifact Drop Rate. When you hunt boss monsters at the same level as yours, you will receive a five times increase in EXP Acquisition Rate.”

“Woah!”

The reporters were, of course, also players of Athenae. The fact that they would be able to receive a three times increase in their EXP Acquisition Rate was already an enormous gain for them. As for the players, those who were getting annoyed and bored because their EXP Acquisition Rate had already started to go down and slow down their leveling because their level had increased would find this as an opportunity to grow faster and finally knock on the walls of a higher realm.

“It’s a 3x Event since it’s our third anniversary.”

“Amazing!”

All of the reporters burst into admiration after learning about the details of this very unusual event. However, the 3x Event was not necessarily set up because it was their third anniversary.

‘We have judged that we must bring the players to a higher level.’

The levels of the players, except for a small number, did not meet their expectations.

‘Helenia will awaken soon.’

Kang Taehoon did not mention anything about this. Helenia, whose complete revival and descent were interrupted because her fragments had been destroyed, was about to awaken. But they should already know about this.

‘Even though Helenia will not be able to be completely resurrected, back when she awakened briefly…’

Back then, the players could not handle her. To be exact, they were completely overwhelmed by the weakened Helenia. What were their levels now compared to back then?

‘Except for a select few people, nothing much has changed in their levels.’

To put it simply, this event was designed to give the players some foothold so that they would be prepared for Helenia’s awakening.

‘It might seem like we’re just giving them a 3x increase in EXP for a month, but the effects will be huge.’

This event would definitely increase the number of players who can achieve Level 600.

“If Level 400 players level up fifteen times this month, they will receive a 2x Level-Up Potion. The same would be true if Level 500 players level up eight times and Level 600 players level up four times this month.”

“...!”

“Not only that. We will also give out a +5 All Stat Increase Potion for the top ten players who achieve the greatest growth during this event. The player who will achieve the greatest growth among all of the players will also receive a +8 All Stat Increase Potion. This will all be tallied and calculated by the system.”

“For real? They’re just going to give it away just like that?”

“Kghhk! Since they’re doing a giveaway, they’re doing it properly!”

President Kang Taehoon could not help but smile bitterly when he heard the cheers of the reporters.

The Battle God’s advertisement video had been recently released worldwide. The video showed how Helenia joined hands with King Above Gods Aegaeon and terrorized the Land of the Gods. Of course, this was only a made-up scenario.

But President Kang Taehoon thought, ‘There is a high chance that something like that will truly happen.’

Since Helenia could not have her full powers, she would use any means necessary to achieve her goal.

‘Whether they can stop her in the future will depend on the players' behavior and actions.’

The players did not know since Joy Co. Ltd. did not disclose it. But Athenae’s Third Era was already about to begin.

Kang Taehoon looked at the reporters and added, “We have received quite a lot of criticisms and complaints about the difference between God classes and ordinary classes.”

This was a fact. In the beginning, the God class players stood out too much. This was also primarily true during the second era. The only way for the ordinary class players to surpass the God class players was to achieve Level 600.

The problem was whenever the God class players, who had successfully inherited the throne of the gods, reached a certain level, a portion of the sealed powers would be released.

There was currently only one player who had gone beyond Level 650. But some players were inching closer to Level 650. This was mainly because it was harder for players to reach Level 650 from Level 600 than reaching Level 600 from Level 500.

“The classes, except for God classes, will experience another inflection point once they achieve Level 650.”

“...!”

“...!”

A bigger wave was being set off than the wave created by the announcement of an event. This alone would increase the players’ desire to level up during the event’s course.

Team Leader Park Minggyu approached President Kang Taehoon, who descended the podium.

“President.”

Taehoon just chuckled bitterly when he heard his subordinate’s call.

“I see. The community sites must have been filled with posts about how this event targets Minhyuk, right?”

Taehoon had already expected this to some extent. Even so, he did not intend to change the event they had planned just for Minhyuk’s sake. Also, even though people would criticize them and continue talking about how they were targeting Minhyuk, they were the ones who truly wanted this to happen, no?

‘After all, it’s a chance for them to approach the Supreme.’

“Yes, that’s right.”

The report that Team Leader Park wanted to give to him was just as he expected.

‘Since Player Minhyuk’s level is too high, he would have to go through a long period of stagnation before he could raise his level.’

This was the inevitable reality. And it was proof of how high Minhyuk’s level was.

“What I wanted to report was about something else.”

“Hmm?” President Kang looked at Team Leader Park in confusion.

Then, Minggyu said, “Player Minhyuk’s level has increased by one.”

“...?”

The confusion on Taehoon’s face grew further as he looked at Minggyu, who was reporting while looking at his mobile phone.”

“But when I checked yesterday, his EXP value for leveling up was just 3%?”

“That’s right. Oh?” Team Leader Park said, his eyes never leaving his phone. “His level just increased by one again.”

“...?”

President Kang Taehoon was rendered speechless. What was going on?

Then, Minggyu said, “Player Minhyuk has received the recognition of the Teacher and is receiving guidance.”

“...!”

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