Leveling Up through Eating

The red-faced Varoghan tried to deny it. As long as the Growth Devourer awakened to the world, he could genuinely become The Teacher. Once that happened, he would become a candidate, and he would finally be able to try and challenge becoming a true member of the Eight Pillars.

‘I will become one of the Eight Pillars.’

He hid his anger after being told he would not become The Teacher. With a voice that could not be heard through the crystal ball, he screamed, “I-I am The Teacher! I am the one!!!”

But his cries could not be heard by the man. Then, the man spoke.

[Stop cursing and tarnishing my master’s name.]

Only then did Varoghan realize that the man was Beradon’s disciple. Because of that, he decided to destroy him on the next floor completely. Varoghan firmly believed that the plan that he had concocted was perfect.

When the trial of the seventh floor started, the young man was faced with the players who were challenging the normal mode’s third floor. Around 991 people were able to climb to the third floor.

Varoghan said, “This time, I want to impart a lesson about desire.”

Just like The Teacher, he spoke gently and amiably.

“In front of you is a foreigner. He is the devil who is challenging Hell mode. This devil is 30% stronger than he was before.”

Varoghan’s eyes curved, and the viciousness in his words was evident.

“You cannot attack the devil.”

What the hell was he talking about? Through the crystal ball, Varoghan could see the question in the faces of all the foreigners.

“Endure and hold your desires back. By the way, if you kill the devil, you can obtain twenty billion EXP.”

Varoghan could see the joy in the faces of all foreigners through the crystal ball.

“You will be able to get a lot of EXP if you successfully land an attack on the devil. However, remember that you will all fail if you attack the devil.”

What he meant was…

‘If one among the hundreds of players attacked the devil, they would all fail to clear the floor. But what will happen if they kill the devil?’

The EXP they would receive would be much higher than the penalty they would incur. It was a very tempting deal. In other words, they could all clear the floor if they just sat still. However, the temptation of the benefits presented to them would stimulate their desire, and they would be unable to hold back.

The young man, climbing the stairs connecting the sixth floor to the seventh floor, could hear Varoghan’s voice. He could clearly hear the viciousness and laughter in his voice.

“As for you, it’s either one of the two. Either you kill them all or don’t attack them.”

In Varoghan’s eyes, this was an impossible feat. He knew that the man was strong. But would he be able to kill hundreds of foreigners in one go? That was impossible. As for not attacking them? It was also impossible. This was because the players would definitely go and attack him first. Either way, both sides would be caught up in their desires and be unable to clear this floor.

“Moron.” Varoghan mocked Beradon’s disciple. “You have been blinded by growth and even chose the Hell level of difficulty! Fufufufufu!”

The man appeared in front of hundreds of foreigners. He had a pair of horns on his head and enormous black wings on his back. Varoghan, who saw this, cackled.

“Keuhahahahaha! You are no different from your idiot of a master!”

Just then, the young man, who was in the form of a demon, said.

[Isn’t this easy?]

“...?”

Easy? How was this easy? What kind of bullshit was he saying? A human’s desire was tough to suppress. Besides, the fact that he told the foreigners that they would be able to gain EXP just by attacking the devil was enough to make them go wild.

[Fifty billion EXP. Lucky~]

‘Lucky? What’s lucky? Is that new slang for something?’

The puzzled Varoghan focused on the crystal ball in front of him.

***

Minhyuk, who was in the form of a devil, appeared in front of hundreds of players. The moment he appeared, a buzz erupted among them.

“Guys. Don’t attack the devil.”

“Ah. I’m serious. Don’t do it. We can all clear this floor and get EXP if we stay still.”

“He’s the devil, though. Why should we stay still?”

“That’s true?”

“Anyway, you guys should never attack.”

Despite saying so, the players were all gearing up to attack. After all, they would all be able to obtain twenty billion worth of EXP if they could kill the devil. This greed washed over them and grabbed hold of their senses, their hands sneakily tightening on their weapons.

‘I’m going to kill him.’

‘These idiots! Stop moving!’

These thoughts flashed in their heads as they secretly prepared to attack. At that moment, the devil raised his hands, which made all of them flinch.

“Guys, put your weapons down.”

“...?”

“...?”

In the end, the devil was also a player. They realized that he also had a similar trial to theirs, which was proven by the words that he had said just a few moments prior. But the players did not let go and even tightened their holds on their weapons.

Seeing this, the man said, “You’re still not letting go?”

The man's figure, which was around 178 centimeters tall, began to change. He grew much taller, and his physique even grew better. The more shocking part was the appearance of the familiar black hair, white and fair skin, and handsome face.

“Just a fair warning. If you attack me, then I will give the order to kill you.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

Varoghan, who was watching everything through the crystal ball, was left in shock. This was because the hundreds of players collectively let go of their weapons.

“He-hehe… So, it’s Minhyuk…”

“Goodness. If it’s you, then who would dare to attack you? Hehe.”

That was right. None of them dared to attack Minhyuk.

What was the easiest way to suppress one’s desire? Well, it was to incite fear. Minhyuk had openly declared war. He told them that if they dared to attack him, then he would give the order to kill. The Beyond the Heavens Empire would turn its back on these players and hunt them.

Of course, this was a blatant abuse of the emperor’s authority. Still, everyone accepted it willingly because he allowed everyone to clear the floor without casualties.

“Let’s all just wait quietly for this floor to be cleared. Well then, follow me.”

Varoghan’s eyes grew wide at the incredible sight in front of him. He was observing the situation in person and in real-time. He was shocked to see the foreigners become obedient children and listen to Minhyuk’s words well.

Not long after, they watched Minhyuk’s mouth with rapt attention.

“Luckyyyy~”

Then, hundreds of foreigners followed and sang at the same time.

“Luckyyyy~”

“Luckyyyy~”

“Luckyyyy~”

After ten minutes…

[You have cleared the Hell-mode Seventh Floor with a higher difficulty level.]

[You have obtained the EXP that Varoghan promised you.]

[You have gained 50,000,000,000 EXP.]

Minhyuk opened his mouth again and said, “Fifty billion EXP, lucky~!”

They literally stood still and did nothing for ten minutes, but Minhyuk was able to gain an astronomical amount of EXP. Even the other players were delighted to hear the notification that they had obtained EXP, even though they just stood still and talked quietly with each other.

Varoghan, in a spirit state, almost ripped his hair out when he saw this scene. ‘W-what the hell is this…!’

As someone who lived in the tower most of his life, Varoghan had grown ignorant of the world outside. He was completely unaware of the influence that Minhyuk, Beradon’s disciple, had.

He felt like choking. Although he could not see it, he could already tell that the Growth Devourer’s egg had grown significantly smaller. Just thinking about the time and effort he had put into the egg to make it grow big and the current situation was enough to make his head spin.

‘N-no. It’s not yet over. There is still so much prey here.’

There were still hundreds of foreigners here. They would fail on the next floor. Once that happened, they would cough up EXP, several times more than the EXP they had gained from clearing the previous floors.

Then, Minhyuk added insult to injury, saying, “Don’t you guys think that the difficulty level is far too high?”

The players felt it, too. Just thinking that they almost had to fight against Minhyuk was enough to make them dizzy. The players could guarantee they would have been wiped out if forced to fight Minhyuk. To top it off, they could tell that each floor's difficulty level was too high compared to the amount of EXP they obtained.

“You can all tell there’s something strange with this tower, right?”

Of course, all of the players knew this.

What was the tower after? Why was the penalty three times higher if they failed? Why was Tower Master Varoghan hailed as “The Teacher” but never went out into the world?

“I can guarantee you that if you fail at the next floor, it won’t end with you just coughing up all of the EXP you have gained.”

The players were aware of this to some extent. Regardless, their greed had spurred them on.

‘Shall we try going up one more floor?’

‘I think I can clear the next floor?’

Such thoughts encouraged them to continue. After hearing Minhyuk’s warning, the players reigned in their desires.

“There’s definitely something strange.”

“It must be true since Minhyuk said it himself.”

“I understand. We’re going down now.”

Usually, if another player said this, they would argue loudly with the vessels on their necks popping, saying, ‘Are you saying this to try and monopolize the rewards?!’

However, Minhyuk’s reputation was just too good. It was to the point where some people began to revere him. It was thanks to his successfully leading the war and protecting Athenae from Helenia and Barbarian.

“Of course, the choice will always be up to you,” Minhyuk said, his expression filled with concern. It was as if he was saying, ‘I’m just saying this because I’m very worried about you.’

His words gave confidence to the conflicted players. Everyone, except for a very small number of players, left the tower.

Minhyuk expressed this “worry” because there was a chance that Varoghan could set up the tower in a way that he would use himself and the players.

‘E-eeeeeeek…!’ Varoghan bit his lips.

Most of the precious resources he needed to nourish the Growth Devourer left because of a single man.

And Minhyuk? He hummed happily. “Lucky~ Lucky~ This is a happy song~ Let’s all sing it together~”

As he listened to Minhyuk sing this song while he climbed to the next floor, Varoghan thought, ‘H-how…?’

He was very shocked.

‘How can such a bastard be so detestable!’

The man was literally nasty and hateful.

‘Is he the God of Obnoxiousness?!’

Varoghan felt his hands itch at how hateful and detestable the man acted. He wanted to grab his mouth and sew it right up!

Unaware of Varoghan’s thoughts, Minhyuk continued to the next floor.

***

Minhyuk continued to conquer the floors with ease. He had broken through the tenth floor and had already gained a total of 240 billion EXP. Now, all that was left was for him to tackle the eleventh floor and get the answer about the Pillar Ingredient.

The trial on the tenth floor was genuinely absurd. The trial was destroying a Diamond Golem, whose HP was a hundred times that of a regular golem, within five minutes by using basic attacks.

‘Dual Swordsmanship Technique.’

The Dual Swordsmanship Technique was not a skill that affected his attacks. It only helped him increase his speed. As for his attacks during the skill duration? They were still basic attacks.

He hit the Diamond Golem more than nine times per second with two swords and chipped away its HP. Minhyuk’s artifacts had special effects like ‘ignoring defense’ and ‘increased critical hit rate,’ thus allowing him to destroy the golem in just four minutes and forty-five seconds.

[You have made a new record.]

[You have cleared the Hell-mode Tenth Floor in just 4 minutes 45 seconds.]

[You are the first player to clear the Second Floor. You have received additional EXP.]

[You are in the middle of an event. The Double EXP effect will be applied.]

[You have gained 40,323,053,030 EXP.]

After obtaining such a vast amount of EXP, Minhyuk moved to the next floor. But before he could do so, a very unexpected notification rang in his ears.

***

Varoghan was highly restless. He knew that the bastard would soon reach the tenth floor. Should he run away now? Or should he awaken the still incomplete Growth Devourer?

“I-I will become one of the Eight Pillars.”

Varoghan wanted to rise in position and become the true Teacher.

Because of this desire, he planned on doing something he should never do. He wanted to feed the Growth Devourer everyone’s “growth.” What did that mean? Well, it meant what it said. He wanted to awaken the still incomplete Growth Devourer in advance and let it go crazy until it had eaten enough “growth” and become whole and complete.

Varoghan touched the shell of the egg.

[The Growth Devourer will hatch in five minutes.]

Five minutes. Varoghan thought he could hold out if it were just five minutes.

Varoghan looked around and caught sight of the 1,000 sturdy young men who were shaking on their feet.

“If I take them hostage, I’ll probably be able to last five minutes.”

Just when he was about to approach them, he heard something.

Crack, crack, crack–!

Varoghan’s eyes grew wide. ‘Is- is it hatching already?!’

Bang–!

That was not the case at all. The floor collapsed, and he fell to the tenth floor.

Swoosh–!

Minhyuk, with his sword still raised above him, was waiting for him. He raised his other hand, snatched the falling Varoghan’s neck, and said, “Hello, fake?”

“...”

Fear stained Varoghan’s eyes.