Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 542: The Savior

“Would you like some mushrooms?”

“I’m fine. No, why the hell are you eating poisonous mushrooms?”

“Because they’re delicious. Wahahaha!”

“…Hoo,” Lu Bai sighed, thinking that he should get his act together. As someone with the special class Savior, he was quite strong. In fact, he had once forced two branch managers of the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild to logout.

Most of the branch managers of the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild were stationed as the lords of a territory. Of course, they were high rankers that would be easily accommodated and recognized in other countries. On the contrary, Lu Bai was wearing armor and a sword that was only worn by novice players. The difference between them was huge.

‘The country also needs to get its act together. I don’t know, I should probably just save these poor and pitiful people. That’s right. These guys must have suffered tremendously from the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild and are now suffering from eating addiction and play dead disease.’

Perhaps, in PlayDead and Hungry’s eyes, Lu Bai was also not someone that influential either.

‘Everything will work out.’

In most novels, the protagonist always hid their power. The same was true for Lu Bai. He was acting as the hero that hid his power and saved the people in times of crisis!

‘Fufufu!’

Lu Bai smiled thinking at the thought of them being surprised. Then, he saw some flies hovering above the face of the man lying on the floor of the wagon.

“There are flies on your face…”

“Corpses… don’t… move…”

“…”

Then, the man munching on mushrooms asked, “Nickname ‘Hero’, why do you want to fight against the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild? Did you get hurt by them too?”

At this point, Lu Bai realized that the most normal conversation between them was about to unfold.

“I actually did not suffer much under them, but there was a time when I saw a girl who lost her parents to them. The girl was skin and bones without any means to eat and drink for a few days. Her body was even battered and bruised. On top of that, she was scared. After my investigations, it turned out that everything was a result of NPCs working together with the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild. I simply can’t stomach what they’re doing.”

Lu Bai smiled bitterly at the memory. Since the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild was a huge guild with a lot of connections, the number of NPCs that cooperated with them had reached a significant number.

“And that’s not all. They toy around with the NPCs, killing them, and taking away the homes and loved ones of many people to increase their power and grow their own wealth. Quite a few players have been harmed by them.”

Hungry, who was listening to his story, asked again, “You’re someone who can’t just pass by when you see an old grandmother selling things on the street, huh?”

“…”

Lu Bai smiled awkwardly. In fact, many people had told Lu Bai that he was foolishly nice, naive even. But he believed that he was living a decent life.

“That’s a good value to live with. But there are times when you’re the one to suffer more.”

Lu Bai chuckled bitterly and said, “It’s not necessarily a bad thing to live a good and kind life. Do you know about the King of Beyond the Heavens?”

The man nodded.

“I heard that he did many good deeds during his childhood and helped a lot of people. I believe that’s why he was rewarded and was able to overcome his eating addiction. He’s also someone that treats the NPCs as if they were real people, which in turn made his people love him and care for him genuinely. Perhaps that’s the reason why he became the very first king. From what I heard he’s also coming after the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild. I hope things go well for him.”

At the end of Lu Bai’s words, the wagon slowly entered the territory.

“My name is Lu Bai. My character code is 513313. If you think something has gone wrong, send me a whisper immediately. We don’t know what’s going to happen inside.”

The man, Hungry, looked at the territory. There was a long procession of slaves trudging their way inside. The worst part? There were even young boys and girls among them.

“My goal might not be to take away their territories, like in your plan. But I’m going to kill the lord of this territory,” Lu Bai said, determination flaring in his eyes, “I’m going to do it, watch me.”

Lu Bai’s voice was filled with confidence.

Alas, fifteen minutes later…

“…?”

“…?”

“…?”

The three men were locked up together. Lu Bai glared from inside the prison.

‘Damn! They knew I was coming?!’

As soon as their wagon entered and passed by the guards, a huge number of troops flocked toward them and captured all three of them. As Lu Bai had expected, the men named PlayDead and Hungry were both weak. In fact, the only one that resisted was Lu Bai. But his resistance did not last long. That was why they were imprisoned just like that.

“I’m a corpse… I was captured but… corpses don’t move…”

“Excuse me, Mister Prison Guard? I’m hungry. When is the meal time going to start?”

“…”

“…”

Lu Bai felt miserable. He usually moved by assassinating the lords of the territories under the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild and tried to increase the casualties of their guild. This time, he tried to work with someone, but what happened to them now? They were all imprisoned together.

At that moment, following the sound of footsteps, a man appeared in front of them. This man was the lord of the territory, and one of the executives of the Slaughterer Eye’s Guild, Borg.

Borg was someone that was very famous and well-known for his atrocious acts. This was because he always posted on SNS about how he was riding his supercar or how he had wads of cash from the jobs that he took through the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild. He was also someone that had reached Level 567 and was a high ranker among high rankers who had completed his class transfer to a high class.

There were actually quite a large number of people who did not opt to change classes even after reaching Level 500. Those that successfully changed to a high class had the power to deal with plenty of the players that did not change classes.

“Lu Bai. You’re someone who recently assassinated two of our branch managers and escaped. You also have a strange class called ‘Savior’.”

Borg rubbed his chin as he looked at Lu Bai from his head to his toe.

“From what I heard, those that have the ‘Savior’ class would gain stats every time they save others, right? What a stupid and trashy class.”

“…What are you going to do to me?”

Lu Bai had already noticed that something was amiss. If they were going to kill him, then they would have killed him earlier.

Hearing his words, Borg grinned and said, “Public execution.”

“…!”

It was a shocking statement.

The Savior class was a legendary class that was amazing. Lu Bai, who had this class, was currently undergoing a class-change quest. Simply put, he would be able to grow into a Royal Class. However, the growth that he could achieve was still unknown. Nonetheless, the Savior class was a role model for everyone. This was a fact. And if this Savior class were to be executed in public?

‘So cruel and atrocious! All I can do is grit my teeth in anger!’

Actually, Lu Bai felt that these players were no different from the vicious lords that carried out atrocious deeds back in the middle ages. Another player’s public execution to satisfy their thirst for blood and fill their stomachs? It was downright despicable.

The Slaughterer’s Eye Guild would bring Lu Bai to the execution grounds, mock him until they’re satisfied, before killing him. This story would definitely spread all over the world. Then, plenty of people will scorn, ridicule and hate the Savior. But they would not stop there.

“After killing you, we will set up a bounty for your head. A ten platinum bounty.”

Tremble, tremble—

Lu Bai’s body shook. This was the harsh truth. Human nature was shit. Ten platinum was enough enticement for people to report his location to the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild, which would allow them to kill him time and time again.

“We will do it until you’re back at Level 1. Keuahahahahahahaha!” Borg cackled. Then, he saw those that were caught in the crossfire. One was still playing dead while the other was clutching his stomach.

“I heard that the people that came with you were crazy. Tsk, tsk. Hey, what’s up with that bastard who’s lying down? What’s with the mask?”

“The mask won’t come off.”

“Hmm. Well, leave them alone,” Borg spat out, turning around and leaving the prison cell.

Shortly afterwards, Lu Bai was dragged out of the cell. Before he got fully dragged out, he glanced at the cell one last time.

PlayDead was still lying on the ground while mumbling, “I’m a corpse… corpses… don’t move…”

And Hungry… “When’s the meal coming…?”

“…”

Lu Bai felt both wretched and helpless.

***

Lu Bai, handcuffed at the wrists, was brought to where a large crowd had gathered. The crowd was composed entirely of members of Slaughterer’s Eye Guild, people that would plunder, loot, and do anything and everything to take care of their own self-interest. All of them came here to mock and jeer at Lu Bai.

“Uweeeeck! Is that the good-hearted bastard?! Disgusting~”

“Look at the punk! He looks like he ate shit.”

“Woooooooo! F*cking bastard!”

All sorts of mockery and ridicule rained down on Lu Bai, along with a downpour of eggs.

Thump, thump, thump, thump—

Covered with eggs, Lu Bai still did not give up. He was still trying to find ways to get out of this predicament. Alas, the handcuffs that tied his wrists did not come off. It was because the handcuffs sealed off one’s MP and stats, and turned prisoners into a normal and ordinary human.

‘Damn.’

All Lu Bai could do was bow his head. Amidst the mockery, a thought suddenly flashed in his head, ‘What will happen to those two?’

Fortunately, the two were exempted from being subjected to the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild mockery. Then, a self-depreciating grin appeared on Lu Bai’s lips.

‘Ah, I’m still worrying about others instead of myself.’

Bitterness flashed briefly on Lu Bai’s face as Borg appeared and sat arrogantly at the highest seat and said, “I can spare you. That is if you bark like a dog. I won’t even give you any punishment or any execution. How about it? Will you bark? Huh?”

Lu Bai smirked as he gathered spit in his mouth.

“Ptew! You look worse than my spit!”

“…”

What kind of face looked uglier than a spit? The words actually made Borg’s face, a face that had gained a lot of weight, immediately turn ugly.

“S, spit… This goddamn dog!”

Lu Bai was quite a handsome fellow, a fact that made Borg even angrier. Borg hurriedly grabbed a bow, nocked an arrow, closed one of his eyes and aimed at Lu Bai.

“I’m not originally an archer, but I can still shoot an arrow into that damned good-looking face of yours!”

Flash—

Borg’s arrow was lodged in Lu Bai’s shoulders.

Stab—

“Ugh.”

Stab— Stab, stab—

Borg, who was shooting arrows one after another, intentionally shot at the places that were not fatal. This was a feat that was only possible because he was extremely close to Lu Bai. That just went to show how much he wanted to mock and ridicule Lu Bai.

“Tomorrow, we will bring you to another territory so they can mock and jeer at you. Then, the next day and the day after that too. We will bring you to many different places teeming with players and mock you. We will continue to do so. Don’t worry we won’t kill you for a month. Keuhahahahahaha!”

But then…

Ring!

A notification popped up in front of Lu Bai.

[One of the Absolute Gods felt sorry for you, the one that took on the Savior Quest.]

[The Absolute God regrets giving you the Savior Class and is feeling sad.]

‘What…?’

Lu Bai’s eyes widened.

‘The Savior… class… is an Absolute God class?’

Absolute Gods. Lu Bai had actually only heard of them but they were beings that exerted the greatest power among all of the gods. They were not just gods, they were the absolute authorities among the gods. Then, additional notifications immediately popped out in front of him.

[If you choose to give up the ‘Savior’ class now, the Absolute God will grant you the strength to overcome the adversities and hardships that you are experiencing now. This is a miracle created by your kindness and virtue.]

[If you choose otherwise, you will remain as a ‘Savior’ class.]

“…”

Lu Bai bit his lips tightly. Would living a good life feed his empty stomach? No, that was definitely not the case at all. Those that he helped would not necessarily return the favor in his time of need. Sometimes they would even pretend that they did not know him. One person doing something good alone would not be able to change the world. After all, Lu Bai was living in a world with thousands of evil people, a number that far surpassed one good person.

Still, Lu Bai wanted to be a ‘savior’ in such a world. This was because he knew what hunger felt like, especially since he lived a very hard life when he was a child.

Drip, drip—

Tears dripped down Lu Bai’s eyes.

“Keu, keuhahahahahahahahaha!”

“Look at the bastard! He’s crying!”

“Wahahahahahaha!”

“Moron! Hahahaha, Savior bastard, my ass! Go on, squirm!”

The members of the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild laughed at him. Lu Bai, on the other hand, felt sad. He realized that he could not change the world with his own hands.

‘At the very least, I was able to stop someone from having a hard time even for a brief moment.’

The girl that was robbed of her everything after the NPCs worked with the Slaughterer’s Eye Guild? At the very least, Lu Bai was able to bring a light into that girl’s eyes at that moment when he gave her some bread and milk. He might have become a laughing stock in the community sites when he declared, ‘I will become a savior!’. There were even some that smirked at him thinking that there was really someone like him in this world.

‘I can’t change the world.’

However, even for a moment, he could bring a smile to someone’s face.

“I…”

Tears continued to stream down Lu Bai’s face.

‘But I can change someone’s life a little, in that moment.’

“…will not give up the Savior class.”

The Savior class was a class that meant a lot to Lu Bai. Although this class had never given him much strength and power, he would still continue to live his life as a Savior class, despite the hardships and adversities that he was bound to face.

At that moment, a set of notifications came.

[The Easter Egg: Salvation Class has been triggered.]

[You will become the Savior that will light up the world no matter how many hardships and adversities you face!]

[The Legendary Savior Class has changed to God Class!]

[This is the First Absolute God Class that has appeared in the world!]

[All of your skills and stats have changed!]

[The Absolute God will choose the apostles that will accompany you.]

[The Savior’s Apostle will lend you their strength today alone.]

[The Savior’s Apostle will receive his blessings.]

[All stats of the Savior’s Apostle will increase by 25%.]

[All of the Savior’s Apostle’s skill level will increase by +1.]

[The Savior’s Apostle has been marked so the Savior can always check on them at any time. You can also view their basic information.]

At that moment, two men bound by a rope were walking into the execution grounds. A string of blue words floated above the head of the man named ‘Hungry’.

[Savior’s Apostle.]

According to the notifications, the Savior could check the apostle’s basic information. And just like that, the basic information of the man named Hungry began to ring in Lu Bai’s head.

[Your apostle is the king who founded the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]

[Your apostle is the first player to have cut down a Demigod!]

[Your apostle is the first person to have gained an Absolute God’s Secret…]

[Your apostle is the first…]

[Your apostle is the first…]

And the final notification…

[The Savior’s Apostle’s class is Food God. His character name is ‘Minhyuk’.]