Leveling Up through Eating - Chapter 1078

“Transcendence.”

[You have activated Transcendence!]

[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]

[The Transcendence’s buff effects have now been applied!]

[All of your stats have increased by 27%!]

[All of your attack power has increased by 23%!]

[All of your defensive power has increased by 29%!]

[All of your skill levels have increased by +1!]

[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 30%!]

[Your total HP and MP have increased by 20%!]

After being killed by Bender ten times in a row, Minhyuk had already learned about his attack pattern and movements. Was he helpless in the face of Bender’s power? Of course. He was fully aware of how powerful Bender was, not to mention Bender was giving it his all to kill Minhyuk in just a few moves.

The condition to clear this quest was cutting Bender’s HP by 50%.

‘It’s tough to do.’

Bender had a Transcendental’s Body. This meant he was someone whose injuries would recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.

However, since Minhyuk continued to die, his MP was mainly unused. So, he went ahead and triggered “The Unyielding One.” It was the most potent force that could allow him to resist any power stronger than his own!

After his tenth death, he equipped the Black Dragon Armor and activated Transcendence, promptly releasing black energy surrounding his entire body.

“This…”

At the same time, Minhyuk’s sword stabbed through the flustered Bender’s chest.

Stab–!

Sword of Frenzy. Minhyuk’s swordsmanship skill could trigger several additional attacks upon a successful attack on a vital point.

Stab, stab, stab–!

Immediately after that, Minhyuk used his Dual Swordsmanship Technique, which promptly increased his speed, and continued his attacks on Bender.

Slash, slash, slash–!

Blood spurted out of Bender’s body as he endured Minhyuk’s attacks. Minhyuk did not stop, immediately triggering the Sword of Tempest, and summoned Stormy.

“Intangible Sword.”

Slash, slash, slash–!

Hundreds of blades that ignored the opponent’s defenses slashed and hacked at Bender.

“Amazing…” Nekk, who was watching from the sidelines, was in awe.

But Minhyuk, who had used all his skills except “Calamity,” was forced to face the reality before him.

“…”

Even at this intensity, he could only reduce Bender’s HP by only 20%.

“What…”

Minhyuk could not hide how flustered he was. Even Helenia had died after he launched attacks like this.

“Helenia’s magical damage was potent. This is a common advantage of a mage,” Bender said as if he had noticed what Minhyuk was thinking.

A mage’s magical damage was several times higher than the attack power of swordsmen.

“But in exchange, her HP was low, only around a fifth of mine.”

“…!” Minhyuk was rendered speechless.

Helenia could overwhelm Bender back then because she had high magical damage and her ores.

What would happen if the Transcendentals were not bound to the Fortress of the Fantasy by the system?

‘Bender might have fought equally against Helenia.’

Bender chuckled lightly. “I’m quite surprised. No matter how strong you have become, I never expected you to put this much pressure on me. Then, now…”

Minhyuk chuckled awkwardly, “Heh.”

Shwaaaaaa–!

Ten seconds later, he was forced to log out again. Minhyuk realized that his previous tactic would not work either. After dying again, he could only analyze the situation.

‘If it weren’t for the Transcendental’s Training Room, it would have already been judged as a failure.’

But thanks to Bender’s kindness, brought about by his consideration(?) or his desire to kill him several times in a row, his quest had still not failed. While pondering this matter and dying ten more times in a row, something new happened.

[Your resistance to the Abnormal Status: Fear has increased.]

“Eh?” Minhyuk looked puzzled when he heard the notification. “Why did my resistance suddenly…?”

Bender chuckled. “Ah, I forgot to tell you. In this place, you have fifteen times more chances of increasing your stats or resistance to abnormal statuses for repeated actions.”

“…!”

Minhyuk’s eyes grew wide.

Most players who died frequently could increase various stats and resistance to abnormal statuses. For example, the fear that one would feel at the moment of their death was an abnormal status. As their resistance to abnormal statuses increased, the fear gradually grew dull.

Of course, this was only something they could obtain after countless repetitive actions. It was usually considered meaningless since the notification would only be triggered occasionally. However, in this place, the chances increased by fifteen times.

‘Usually, places where you can log in indefinitely would not have any effects that could increase one’s stats.’

Yet this place had such an effect. Minhyuk, who saw the sly smile on Bender’s face, said, “Thank you, Bender.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just want to mess with you and make you suffer.”

This was what Bender was aiming for. He deliberately brought Minhyuk here because Minhyuk wanted to grow.

“The question is, can you endure it?” Bender flicked his wrist and swung his sword in a circle while laughing. “I will continue to kill you until the words ‘Please, I beg you. Stop.’ comes out of your mouth.”

“Well, try to kill me until you get those words out of my mouth then.” Minhyuk puffed his chest out proudly.

Bender chuckled.

***

Fifty days later…

“P-please. Let’s stop for a bit.”

“Come on, kill me quickly, Bender! Keuhahahaha! Stab me here! Ahahahahaha!”

“…?”

Bender looked at Minhyuk, who was like a madman. ‘Wait. Has he gone nuts? Who would do something like this non-stop for fifty days?’

Of course, no one would not feel exhaustion or fatigue inside the Transcendental’s Training Room. Even so, the stress of repeatedly experiencing this act was bound to increase. And Minhyuk had been dying non-stop for fifty straight days.

“You have only killed me 1,742 times.”

“…?”

Minhyuk checked the stats and the abnormal status resistance that had increased during his deaths.

‘Resistance to Abnormal Status: Fear increased 39 times.

‘Resistance to sharp weapons increased 44 times.

‘Repeated deaths caused an increase in HP by 137.

‘DEX increased by 116.

‘Physical defensive power increased by 36.

‘Magical defensive power increased by 46.’

The increased resistance to sharp weapons meant that the amount of HP cut down when attacked by weapons would decrease. The method to improve this was usually a gruesome process. Others had to swing their swords for fifty straight days, while others had to suffer countless attacks non-stop. Could the average person endure this? No. That was impossible.

But Minhyuk?

“You have to kill someone 5,000 times before you can say, ‘Ah, I killed him~.’ Right?”

“…”

“Oh dear! Come on, kill me. Quick!” Minhyuk said, a hoe in his hand as he dug the ground before him. Using the hoe to dig the ground could increase his DEX.

Usually, dishes made in places like this would disappear once taken outside. But was that the case with the Transcendental’s Training Room? Not at all.

‘The dish remains the same even if you take it outside.’

In other words, he would be able to save time cooking! Minhyuk scooped some of the boiling soup in the cauldron he had prepared earlier and slurped it up before continuing to work hard with his hoe.

“Ah, wait. Where did my killer go?”

“…”

At this point, Bender realized that something had gone wrong. ‘No. Maybe he’s the one with a problem?’

The Transcendentals would usually throw away their desire for growth and beg for him to stop after dying hundreds of times in ten days. But that was not the case for Minhyuk. Even though he continued to die, he still did what he wanted to do just to raise his stats.

‘In the end, he’s still human.’

Bender was entertaining the idea that Minhyuk would eventually surrender and succumb to helplessness if he killed him a hundred times more.

Alas, after ten days…

“Oho! My DEX increased by three today!”

On the twentieth day…

“My resistance to Fear has not gone up in a few days. Tch.”

On the thirtieth day…

“You’re not yet tired, right?”

On the fortieth day…

“Wow. If you kill me 700 more times, then it will be my 3,000th death.”

On the fiftieth day…

“You only need to kill me 100 more times!”

“…I’m not doing it anymore.” Bender threw his sword away.

‘What the hell? How is there a guy like this?’

Then, Bender rolled his shirt up and said, “Kill me, Minhyuk.”

“???”

“If you seriously injure me, then everything will be over. Right?”

“???”

“Come on! Let’s end this quickly!”

Minhyuk’s expression soured. He said, “But I don’t want to.”

“Why?!!!”

Bender could not understand him. He was already saying he would lose in this spar, so why was he refusing?

“Because I’m starting to see it?”

“…?” Bender looked at Minhyuk in confusion. That was when he saw the slight smile blooming on Minhyuk’s face.

***

Minhyuk had died under Bender’s hands thousands of times over. Of course, he did not resist much for the benefits of the repeated deaths and actions. However, there was another reason.

‘I’m slowly starting to see it.’

He was starting to see through Bender’s skill, Heaven Destroyer, and swordsmanship of the same name. And as if to prove it, the notifications rang in his ears.

[Your understanding of Bender’s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased.]

[Your understanding of Bender’s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased.]

[Your understanding of Bender’s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased.]

[Your understanding of Bender’s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased by more than 30%.]

The notifications indicated that Minhyuk was genuinely starting to understand Bender’s skill and swordsmanship. When he heard the notifications, Minhyuk hurriedly sent a whisper to Abel to ask about this phenomenon.

[Abel: There’s a post about that in the community sites. A player continued to log back inside the game hundreds of times to kill the Named Monster that killed his precious and beloved NPC. After dying hundreds of times, his understanding of the monster’s characteristics and skills has increased.]

Nevertheless, Abel’s reaction was adverse.

[Abel: That guy was ridiculed by a lot of people. In the end, his level dropped down by a lot. He went from somewhere in the middle rankings to Level 30.]

It was impossible to die from a single target a hundred times over. If one did that, then they would be deemed crazy. But such a case existed, and now Minhyuk was experiencing it firsthand.

‘I see it.’

The higher his understanding of Bender’s swordsmanship and skill was, the more he saw. Before, his eyes could not even follow Bender’s sword. This was because it was moving swiftly and erratically. However, he was now starting to see it.

‘Everyone has a habit.’

This habit would also appear when using the sword. After dying around 2,900 times to Bender, Minhyuk had noticed a habit. And he started preparing the moment he caught it.

‘When Bender lets his guard down again…’

The problem was that Bender was already exhausted. He even pulled his top up and asked Minhyuk to kill him. But that was not what Minhyuk wanted. After all, that was not a true victory, and Minhyuk had a strong desire to win.

Besides, after dying thousands of times from a single target, he even received a special privilege.

[You have died a thousand times under the hands of a single target.]

[You have obtained the Title: The One Who Died a Thousand Times.]

It was a very ridiculous title. But what about its effects?

‘It reduces the damage that I will receive from all of the attacks by that target by 7%? Not only that, but it also increases my attack power by 5% when attacking that target.’

And when he died for the 2,000th time…

[You have died two thousand times under the hands of a single target.]

[You have obtained the Title: The One Who Died Two Thousand Times.]

The title was upgraded. The damage reduction had increased to 14% while the attack power increased to 10%.

Minhyuk deliberately switched to an artifact with lower defensive power so that Bender would not notice this fact.

Now, the 3,000th time has come.

“Minhyuk! Let’s stop this now!”

At this moment, Minhyuk believed that he was already somewhat ready.

Stab–

When Minhyuk died and reappeared in a flash of light, he expected to hear the same notifications that he received the other day. And just like he expected…

[You have died three thousand times under the hands of a single target.]

[You have obtained the Title: It’s Hard to Die Like This.]

“…?”

For some reason, the name of the title sounded a bit unpleasant. Nonetheless, the effects of the title increased significantly. The damage reduction had risen to 25%, while the attack power increased to 17%.

‘Alright. I’m almost done with the preparations…’ Minhyuk thought.

Then, an additional notification rang that left him in surprise.

[Your understanding of Bender’s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased.]

[You have greatly understood Bender’s swordsmanship and skill.]

[You might be able to combine the Heaven Destroyer Swordsmanship that Bender possessed and your own Food God’s Swordsmanship now.]

“…?!”

The notification made even Minhyuk’s pupils tremble and shake.