Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 114: I Choose You!

‘S…so you were just acting earlier?!’?Minhyuk thought. He had never seen such an existence before. Was this a being that would do anything for food?

‘My goodness! It would resort to scamming and cheating, just to get something to eat?!’

This was Minhyuk’s first time being on the receiving end of such a clever act played out just for the sake of food.

The baby piggy looked at Minhyuk seriously. Suddenly, it went near Minhyuk’s legs and tapped it with its little head. It looked like it had thought of something and wanted to let Minhyuk know about it.

“Oink, oink!”

It seemed like it was signaling for Minhyuk to follow it. The baby piggy was giving off a cool aura. It was a bit absurd, but Minhyuk still stood up to follow it. If there had to be a reason, it was probably because the little piggy looked extremely confident. The little piggy sniffed for a while before it continued to move forward.

‘Is it following the smell?’

Minhyuk wondered if pigs also had an acute sense of smell. The small question floated in his head as the little piggy stopped in front of a blade of grass and tapped its head on it. It was as if it was telling him that this was it.

“You want me to check it?”

Minhyuk did not know why he followed the little piggy but he decided to check the unknown grass first before pondering over it deeply.

(Five-leaf Barbed Grass)

Material Grade: B

Special Abilities:

?Magical Defense +1.

?Magical Attack +1.

Description: This is a barbed grass that tastes like spinach. It looks a bit like a four leaf clover and tastes good. However, this five leaf barbed grass is a special barbed grass. It’s a one out of a hundred existence.

“...Huh?”

Minhyuk was quite surprised. He harvested the grass, but there was no notification about collecting a ‘special’ item from his Intermediate Farming skill. This only meant one thing… This barbed grass was something that was not collected through the Intermediate Farming skill. It truly was a five-leaf barbed grass! Not long after, the little piggy protested with an?oink!.?It seemed like it wanted to exchange the five-leaf barbed grass with a hotdog.

‘Wait a minute. Right now, I need to experiment.’

Minhyuk realized that the little piggy was much more special than he initially thought. When the pig realized that he still would not give it anything, it grumbled to itself and started moving quickly towards somewhere. When it sensed that Minhyuk was not following, it looked back at him and jerked its head, as if to encourage him to follow.

Twitch!

It was as if it was saying that it was not a pushover and it would find him something better. The little piggy guided Minhyuk to another place. It pointed him towards a fruit that looked extremely appetizing.

“Oink, oink!”

The little piggy pointed its nose towards the fruit. Minhyuk also checked the information of the fruit.

(Hatchling’s Apple)

Medicine

Special Abilities: +50 WIS

Description: An extremely delicious apple that has grown after absorbing the?mana?from a Hatchling’s body.

“...!”

Minhyuk was surprised. Then, he heard the pig squeal in laughter. He was more surprised when he realized that the pig was laughing at him.

‘Don’t tell me?!’

An idea brewed in Minhyuk’s mind as he looked at the pig intently.

‘Does it have the ability to find ingredients and materials like medicine?’

Obviously, there were plenty of monsters here with varying classes and species. There were even rare ones that no one had ever laid their eyes on yet. It was for this reason that Minhyuk believed that it was possible. Minhyuk quickly picked up the Hatchling’s Apple and ate it all at once.

Crunch, crunch!

The Hatchling’s Apple tasted extremely delicious. Minhyuk felt that apples were much better for him compared to salads. When he ate an apple, he would not need to cook or mix, but he would still be able to eat something delicious.

[You have eaten a Hatchling’s Apple.]

[You have gained +50 WIS.]

Minhyuk nodded his head happily. While he was enjoying the taste of the apple, something snapped at him.

“Oink?” The pig oinked and looked at him sadly, reminding him that he had forgotten about something. Minhyuk cut a piece off of the hotdog and handed it over to the little piggy.

Give and take!

Then, the little piggy took a bite and its eyes widened in surprise. Its little tail wiggled and it jumped up and down as it squealed. The little piggy suddenly jived according to its own rhythm. Just like what he saw earlier, the little piggy liked to do a little jig in its own rhythm once it tasted delicious food.

It looked back at Minhyuk once again.

Smileeeee━

The little piggy smiled in delight. That was the start of the strange relationship between Minhyuk and the little piggy.

Minhyuk continued to observe the pig since he did not know where it came from. It was then that he found out that even though the little piggy was not able to find any medicine like the one from before, it was still able to sniff out precious and special ingredients. In the end, taking a bet to be on the safe side, Minhyuk used the last chance that he got to check the information of the little piggy.

(Baby Pig)

Rank: ????

Race: Pet

Level: 1

Attack: 102

Defense: 163

Summoning Duration per Day: 1 hour

Summoning Cooldown Time: 23 hours

Special Abilities: Can find delicious ingredients and sometimes rare, excellent medicine.

Condition for Growth: The more delicious the food the owner eats, the higher the EXP and the higher the level it could evolve.

Potential: 184

Experience Value: 0% / 100%

“...What’s this, so unusual?”

Unusual, just like that word, this monster was unusual. Furthermore, its rank had ‘???’ written on it. Its special ability was the same as what Minhyuk had expected it to be: find delicious ingredients.?This was by no means a common special ability. When Minhyuk was observing the little piggy, it even found a medicine. There were even some special ingredients that it found. Of course, half of it was because this place was filled with special ingredients, but nonetheless, it was still a difficult task to find delicious ingredients and special medicine even in a place like this. In addition, it also had a potential of 184.

“What’s with the 184 in its potential?”

The potential of a pet had a huge effect on them. It would play an important role and determine how much more it would grow and evolve. Generally, if the pet had a higher potential then it would have a higher growth rate which would mean that the pet would become better as it leveled up.

‘The highest potential that I know of is probably at... around 101?’

The gap was much bigger than he had thought. Just what in the world was this pig? However, he still liked it very much.

“Find delicious ingredients...”

The potential upside was extremely huge. What was more surprising was the fact that its level, abilities, and EXP would increase if the owner ate something delicious. In other words, whenever it leveled up, then it would gain more abilities compared to right now. That was not all. What if it found some medicine? Minhyuk’s concerns were not that deep. He decided to choose the baby pig.

He chose the baby pig not only because it could find delicious ingredients. The hatchling was obviously much more powerful right now; perhaps, he could even fight toe to toe with other rankers right now if he had it by his side. However, the rankers would eventually level up and grow up.

What if they reached Level 600 in the future? By that time, the hatchling would not pose any threat to them at all especially since it was not able to evolve any further. In contrast, the potential of the baby pig was tremendous. He did not know what it would evolve into in the future. The most important thing was that it could find him delicious ingredients. Compared to a hatchling, the potential was endless.

Minhyuk did not know if choosing the hatchling would allow him to speed up the process of him finding delicious ingredients, but it would definitely not allow him to find delicious ingredients right away. In comparison, the baby pig had the chance to evolve even if he did not know what it would grow into. Besides, although he was not sure, there was a chance…

‘What if it grew up and one of its special abilities would say ‘It has grown up well, you can now eat it’? Fufufufu.’

Minhyuk was just so simple. He would choose anything as long as it was related to food. In other words, he might not know the result right now, but it was possible that he would be able to eat the baby pig later.

[Do you wish to select the Baby Pig?]

“Yes.”

[The Baby Pig belongs to the Pet race.]

[Would you like to rename the Baby Pig?]

A name change. Minhyuk thought hard about it. He said, “Little Piggy?”

[The Baby Pig hates it.]

“...”

Minhyuk looked at the baby pig with a puzzled expression. The little guy stood up on its two feet and climbed on top of his shoulder. It was not that heavy since it was just the size of a fist.

“Hmm. What do we have??Your color?is slightly pink so... Pink Piggy?”

That was right. Minhyuk had the worst naming sense out of everyone!

[The Baby Pig hates it.]

Of course, the baby pig would hate it. Minhyuk said, “If you don’t like these names then I’m sure you will also hate Oinky...”

[The Baby Pig hates it.]

“Hmm...” Minhyuk hummed. He thought deeply before saying, “Of course you shouldn’t be named Fatty... then, Beanie? Ah, Beanie is a dog’s name...”

[The Baby Pig is pleased.]

“...?”

Minhyuk thought that the baby piggy had a bad naming sense. However, it liked the name so what could Minhyuk do?

“I, I choose Beanie as its name.”

[You have chosen the name Beanie for the Baby Pig.]

[Beanie is in a good mood.]

“Ooiink~” Beanie cried happily before falling asleep on Minhyuk’s shoulder.

‘I can summon it for an hour every day.’

Minhyuk believed that this duration would increase as it grew more.

[The Pet Selection has been done. You will now return to where you were originally summoned from.]

Flash!

A bright light covered his eyes.

***

When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he realized that Phoenix Lord Chronicle was gone and Balzarc was the only one that was waiting for him. Balzarc looked closely at Beanie, the pet that Minhyuk chose.

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“No. Out of all the monsters, why did you choose a pig?”

“Well, the potential was high and...” Minhyuk explained to him his reasons as to why he chose this pet. Finding delicious ingredients, it was different compared to others, and finally the most important reason!

“You know what?”

“...What is it?”

“This pig grows up whenever I eat something delicious.”

Balzarc nodded.

“Why do people raise pigs and cows?”

“...To eat them?”

Balzarc nodded again.

“That’s right. Then, later...”

Whisper, whisper━

“I might be able to eat it.”

In fact, none of the monsters were shining a black light. Of course, Beanie was not shining with a black light either but with its high potential, it might be able to change later.

“Emergency food.”

“Em, emergency food... uhm...!” Balzarc shouted as he looked at Minhyuk in utter bewilderment.

“Then, you should now give me what you promised!” Minhyuk said, extremely excited.

Balzarc nodded and waved his hand in the air. As soon as he waved his hand, the first God’s Dish that was left behind by the Food God appeared. The Pork Trotter Set appeared in the air.

“Wow...”

Minhyuk was in awe. The meat in the pork trotters was sliced thinly and laid on top of the bones with plump and juicy meat underneath! There was also some spicy dipping sauce, lettuce, garlic, kimchi, pickled radish, radish water kimchi, and finally… noodles.

“Hahaha!” Minhyuk laughed heartily as he picked up a piece of pork trotter meat. He placed it in his mouth and savored the taste. The meat was chewy and light. He did not know if it tasted special because it was cooked in lava, but it was really delicious. He swallowed the meat and…

“Wow...”

…He could not stop himself from letting out a gasp of surprise. He felt like his mind went blank for a moment. It was really really delicious. Of course, Minhyuk never had the chance to eat pork trotters so he would find it extremely delicious. Whenever he was hungry at night and someone said… ‘How about some late night snack? Pork trotter, call?’ he would be the first one to shout… ‘Pork trotter!’. However, while it was a food that was common for others, it was not for someone like Minhyuk. He could not believe that the pork trotter that he did not have in a long while would taste so delicious. Just then, Minhyuk turned his head…

“Huh?”

…and saw Beanie on the floor eating some pork trotter too.

“...?”

“Oink?”