Awards ceremony hall.

Alexander and Minhyuk had indeed won against many challengers. This was especially the case in the Infinite Battles, where the two only had the slightest differences in the number of opponents they dealt with.

Of course, the same was true for the Battle of the Stars. Minhyuk took the lead initially by firing all his skills at the challengers who flocked to the bridge. He even summoned his Immortal Knight Order to deal with more enemies than Alexander.

However, as mentioned before, the two still slightly differed in the number of opponents they dealt with. These were the notifications that rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

“??” Minhyuk looked at the notification window in front of him in doubt. He kept receiving notifications about how his Infinite Points could not be calculated.

Alexander was also standing right next to him with a similar expression. The two were experiencing similar situations. Joy Co. Ltd. thought a player could only fight and win against 100,000 enemies. But the two of them dealt with over 300,000 players by themselves.

After receiving the notification about his Infinite Points, the notifications about his rewards immediately rang for Alexander.

Alexander had to gain 1,000,000 Infinite Points to obtain additional skills for his class. Now that he had heard the notification, he was delighted.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk stood beside him, still listening to his notifications.

Minhyuk gained more points per person he defeated than Alexander. Alexander could take home a larger pool of rewards as the MVP, so this was nothing to him.

Minhyuk thought. This was the same Minhyuk who had difficulty dealing with many enemies just a few minutes prior. But now? He was looking forward to eating samgyeopsal. He even started to fantasize.

Minhyuk gulped as he imagined the white smoke rising from the grill.

The thought alone made him shiver in excitement. This time, the notification for the rewards for the Battle of the Stars rang.

As far as Minhyuk knew, the second place would receive around 400,000 Infinite Points as a reward for the Battle of the Stars. It was a significantly lower reward than the reward received in the first place.

At that moment, an unexpected additional notification rang in his ears.

Minhyuk looked at the notifications in doubt. When he looked up, he met with Alexander’s similarly confused gaze.

A player who had reached one million points was special. Currently, only Minhyuk and Alexander have accumulated one million points. As for the future, one had to wonder if there would ever be another player who could accumulate that much.Immediately after the awards ceremony ended, another notification went off.

Minhyuk disappeared with a flash of light.

***

After returning to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Minhyuk rushed to the walls.

Minhyuk thought, smiling faintly as he opened the Infinite Store.

The upgraded Infinite Store was now divided into a regular and platinum-class store, which Minhyuk could change to with just a click. Minhyuk first looked through the items being sold in the platinum-class store. However, there was a slight variation in the items being sold.

There were around fifteen such items listed above in the platinum-class store. Minhyuk browsed through the items and clicked through every single one to check their information.

The One-hour EXP Explosive Increase Potion was an item with remarkably shocking power that could increase one’s acquired EXP by as much as fifteen times during the one-hour duration that it was in effect. The Single Target EXP Increase Potion could be applied to one monster to increase its value by around fifty times when hunting.

Minhyuk's attention was already drawn to the end of the list, where the words “cooking spray” appeared. He looked at the description of the item with wide eyes. Why did he not check it earlier? Well, he only had one reason.

This was what he saw when he checked the content.

“Kghhk~” Minhyuk was in awe.

The Fantastic Cooking Spray was powerful and could be used ten times. Just the 15% increase in the effects of the ingredients upon spraying was powerful enough. After all, the better the ingredients were, the better the effects were, and the higher the increase.

Minhyuk bought the Fantastic Cooking Spray without any hesitation. He also made sure to purchase some items he thought he would need.

Although Minhyuk still had many points, he quickly closed the platinum store after purchasing what he needed and moved back to the regular store.

Since he did not necessarily need them yet, Minhyuk felt there was no need to buy them immediately.

Minhyuk stared at the pork set that appeared in front of him. He wanted this Sorted Pork Set because each part had different effects and attributes.

For example, if he ate the samgyeopsal, his STM would increase by 1% permanently. His total MP would increase by 0.5% if he ate the pork neck.

But Minhyuk found that each part was thick and heavy, weighing around 600 grams per part, to be highly satisfying. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to use the cooking spray on the samgyeopsal before he ate them.

The samgyeopsal was covered with tantalizing gloss as he gently lined them up on the slippery, hot cauldron lid.

White smoke and the delicious sizzling sound slowly rose to the sky.

Participating in the Infinite Battles and the Battle of the Stars was extremely fun but exhausting for Minhyuk. He poured cola into a glass filled with ice and immediately gulped it down.

“Kghhk!” Minhyuk exclaimed as he flipped the samgyeopsal on the cauldron lid.

Then, he pulled out his scissors and cut some of the well-ripened kimchi, which he placed gently on the area where the oil flowed.

The kimchi was slowly being grilled with the oil from the samgyeopsal, which looked like it had already been cooked well. Seeing this, Minhyuk grabbed a piece and put it in his mouth. The juices of the thick samgyeopsal immediately coated the inside of his mouth when he took a bite.

Minhyuk admired the flavor briefly before spreading a lettuce leaf on his palm. He added half a spoon of rice, two pieces of meat, ssamjang, some garlic, Cheongyang peppers, and some pickled green onions on top of the lettuce before wrapping everything up and putting it in his mouth.

The different ingredients brought a delightful combination of flavors to his mouth. Next, Minhyuk dipped a piece of samgyeopsal in the ssamjang and ate it as it was.

“A thick slice is truly much better.”

That was right. Minhyuk preferred eating thick slices of samgyeopsal than eating thin ones. The samgyeopsal he was eating right now was thick and filled with plenty more juices than the thin ones.

A happy smile hung around the corners of his lips as he scooped a mouthful of doenjang jjigae and put it in his mouth. He immediately followed it with a considerable spoonful of rice, its sweet flavor deepening the smile on his face.

Before Minhyuk knew it, the notifications telling him he had finished eating rang in his ears.

Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. At that moment, another notification rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

***

Black-robed players worldwide began to gather in dark and gloomy places regardless of class or nationality.

“Finally. He’s finally ready to lead us all.”

“Fu– fufufu– Fufu.”

“Kukuku– kuku.”

Then, one of them said, “It has been completed!”

“Ho! Oh my god!”

“We have to hurry!”

Around a thousand players of varying levels–novices, mid-levels, and even masters–began to move. The almost a thousand black-robed players running in one direction immediately took the public's attention.

Finally, they reached an empire. After they identified themselves, the guards readily let them in. The people inside the empire looked at them with fear when they saw them enter. Who wouldn’t? After all, they were strangers wearing black robes.

However, they continued to move until they reached their destination. And what was their destination? It was a massive temple with a man standing on a platform right before it. There was already a crowd of more than a thousand people dressed in black robes standing in front of the temple.

“Ah- aaaaaaaah– aaaaaaah…!”

The almost a thousand newly arrived players pulled their hoods back and looked at the man standing before the temple. They all looked very emotional as they stared at the handsome man with beautiful golden hair fluttering behind him.

“You have been waiting for so long!!!” Everyone nodded solemnly as the man continued, “This is the moment we have all been waiting for!!!”

That was right. They had all been waiting for this very moment.

Unable to contain his joy, one of the men in the crowd shouted, “A—Ali-! We have been waiting for this! We have always hoped that you would lead us!”

“A- Ali-!”

Die-hard manhwa and manga fans from all over the world had gathered together to witness this very moment, this moment that they had been waiting for for a very long time.

“On this day, I will declare the name of the religion that will worship me, Ali! My religion will be !”

“A- Aaaaaaaaaah…!”

“So- So cool…”

“Your coolness is exploding!!!”

Everyone was in awe. They watched as Ali turned around the platform. Then, he placed his right hand on his waist and raised his left arm. Everyone saw the X mark on his left wrist. The crowd immediately followed his example and raised their left arms, hidden under the sleeves of their robes.

“Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!” Ali cried loudly.

Following his cries, the crowd raised their left arms as high as possible. Then, they shouted at the top of their lungs.

“Frieeeeeeeeeend!”“Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeend!”

“Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!”

Hot tears streamed down Ali’s face as the notification rang.

Minhyuk, who went to congratulate Ali after hearing that the God of Magic’s Temple had finished building, was rendered speechless when he witnessed Ali and his religion’s glorious and greatest moment.