I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 102

Setting aside the tabloid rumor that Allfather was actually Kadir... I finished up the work I needed to do.

Though I ate up some time due to a newbie (?) with a wild roleplay concept, it was only 10 minutes.

It didn’t affect my overall daily routine and amounted to nothing more than browsing the Gallery.

’Today is Day 13. Two days later makes it exactly half a month.’

Time seemed to flow slowly, yet passed by quickly.

If daily routine just repeated, time would fly fast, but currently I was enduring all kinds of hardships.

’Sufferings are best done in moderation.’

Grumbling internally, I stepped out for training. Swordsmanship training followed right after the Internal Cultivation Art.

Two days from now—that is, when it reached half a month—I planned to consume the Inner Core.

I had already informed Heavenly Demon about this. So I received a more in-depth theoretical explanation.

[Heavenly Demon: It appears you have laid down the basics to some extent.]

What truly marvelous talent.

How long does it usually take to master the basics?

[Heavenly Demon: Whatever it may be, the beginning is always difficult.]

The time it takes to feel the internal energy in the dantian varies from person to person.

On average it takes a week to half a month, but since you felt it in a single day, you can indeed be called a genius.

[Wild Grylls: I’m embarrassed.]

[Heavenly Demon: You need not be embarrassed; you may well be proud.]

I too am pleased to be able to teach talent such as yours.

Mmm. Now this is a true adult.

Congratulating a subordinate’s (?) achievements whole-heartedly without any jealousy.

This is precisely why even if I resent the heavens, I don’t want to resent people.

Though bad people exist, kind people like Heavenly Demon exist as well.

With a pleasant smile on my face, I sent a message to Heavenly Demon.

If it weren’t for you, Heavenly Demon-nim, I wouldn’t have made it this far either.

[Wild Grylls: Especially the formula you passed to me was a huge help whenever I was in danger.]

[Heavenly Demon: A carp living in a lake grows larger than a carp living in a pond.]

However, even a carp living in a lake is meaningless if it cannot survive.

[Wild Grylls: You mean the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art is the lake and I’m that carp, right?]

[Heavenly Demon: You grasp it immediately. How gratifying.]

Seeing how she uses poetic expressions, she’s definitely of advanced age.

Even if she uses strange words occasionally, I can just consider that as being corrupted by the Gallery.

[Wild Grylls: Around when will you teach me the second formula?]

[Heavenly Demon: Since you mentioned you will consume the Inner Core soon, I shall teach you then.]

If the first formula is surrendering your body to the heavens, the second formula is feeling the power of the heavens.

[Wild Grylls: Surrendering to the power rather than governing it?]

[Heavenly Demon: In order to govern power, one must first comprehend the nature of that power.]

Can you forcibly twist a raging river current?

[Wild Grylls: That would be tough.]

[Heavenly Demon: The heavens are the same.]

The closer you draw near, the farther it appears. It is to draw even a step closer to the heavens.

It was an explanation that clicked instantly. Hearing Heavenly Demon’s words, I nodded my head.

The eel I ate before. Everyone knows all the side effects caused by that eel.

Back then I really thought I was going to explode, but somehow managed to disperse the power.

Maybe proceeding similarly to back then would work. It felt like I had unintentionally previewed the lesson.

’Even better.’

Receiving various foundational knowledge from Heavenly Demon, I operated the Mental Cultivation Method.

Gradually understanding what the basics were, the duration for operating the Mental Cultivation Method grew longer as well.

One might ask if it shouldn’t decrease instead, but as Heavenly Demon used in her metaphor, the basics are roots.

The deeper and wider the roots grow, the greater the amount of water required.

’To increase purity, there’s nothing for it but to expand lung capacity.’

This too required nothing less than steadily training my breathing.

While practicing the Internal Cultivation Art, my lung capacity could expand alongside it.

What I wanted was to breathe normally in the exact same manner as operating the Mental Cultivation Method.

Heavenly Demon mentioned that this was work to fortify the roots rather than mere basics.

That meant it was still a long, long way off for me. Still, with effort, it would be enough.

’Next is swordsmanship training.’

Once the Mental Cultivation Method training ended, it was time for swordsmanship training.Find the original chapter at nоvelping.com.

Swordsmanship training proceeded step by step while looking at Sword Matstar’s posts, but there were parts where I hit a wall.

Others said just reading this post could turn anyone into a mass-produced (?) Sword Master, but there was nobody beside me.

For martial arts, the presence of a master was extremely important; practically banging my head against the ground on my own made me a bit sad.

[Sword Matstar: So which part are you getting stuck on?]

[Wild Grylls: It feels like the stability is lacking. Like the sword keeps shaking?]

[Sword Matstar: I understand what you mean. But that’s unavoidable as long as you’re using a sword with one hand, Grylls-ssi. Isn’t it obvious that one hand has less stability than two hands?]

[Wild Grylls: Is there no way around it?]

[Sword Matstar: There are plenty of ways. To give you one tip, step forward with the foot opposite to your extending hand. Since Grylls-ssi is right-handed, step forward with your left foot.]

[Wild Grylls: I’ve been doing that all along, though?]

[Sword Matstar: Did you do that during training as well?]

[Wild Grylls: Oh.]

[Sword Matstar: Another tip: throw away the idea of cleaving your opponent in two. Stability is crucial for a blade, but using one hand ultimately reduces stability and puts too much force into it.]

[Wild Grylls: Are you saying I have to ditch the shield later?]

[Sword Matstar: That’s personal preference. You can just supplement the lacking cutting power with Aura.]

[Wild Grylls: So in the end, practicing Aura is the only way.]

[Sword Matstar: Exactly. Work hard and your efforts will shine one day. And another tip: practice thrusting a lot!]

[Wild Grylls: Thank you!]

[Sword Matstar: Please grow into a wonderful man quickly and marry me!]

[Wild Grylls: Teacher?]

Hearing a joke completely out of character for her persona made my mind go dizzy.

Come to think of it, I had neglected thrusting. I gained a lot through this conversation.

I executed swordsmanship and Aura training just as Sword Matstar instructed.

Training to raise the lacking stability while filling in unavoidable deficiencies with Aura.

’Practice thrusts, too.’

Not just thrusting, but I also needed to gradually modify my combat style.

Up until now, my fighting method was waiting for an opportunity to limit the opponent’s mobility first, then slowly whittling down their stamina bit by bit.

Since there were mostly oversized monsters, it was a trick that worked surprisingly well.

However, this was only possible because I possessed an absurdly broken item like the Sword of the Heavenly Demon.

Additionally, I needed to think about methods to face beasts that weren’t gigantic.

’What happens if a fight drags into a prolonged battle?’

Such things rarely happened, but who knows? Being the Forest of the Four Seasons, nothing was certain.

I’d probably be vulnerable in a prolonged fight. What reason did I have to build endurance here anyway?

Though practicing the Mental Cultivation Method expanded my lung capacity, still, who could say for sure?

There might be animals in the Forest of the Four Seasons with greater lung capacity than mine.

"..."

"...What are you doing?"

"Huuu..."

Asking Speed Sloth what he was doing, the guy just let out a sigh.

Rather than a sigh, it seemed like he was just practicing breathing. It was so absurd I burst out laughing.

That couldn’t possibly be the breathing technique I showed him before, right? No way.

’Might as well say a gorilla learned breathing techniques.’

A gorilla is an animal capable of literally ripping a human in half.

Such an animal learning breathing techniques? There could be no greater disaster.

Moreover, breathing techniques—or Mental Cultivation Methods—require a certain level of intelligence to perform.

Unless the Forest of the Four Seasons evolved monkeys to be no less intelligent than humans, it would be impossible.

’Besides, nobody would have taught them in the first place.’

With that thought in mind, I stood up. It was about time to eat lunch.

Now that I built an oven, I should cook lunch with it. I just had to receive the items from the Dwarf too.

"Wonmo-ya. Let’s go."

"Kkyuu!"

Coincidentally, Wonmo was awake too, so I took him along.

And of course, I strapped Speed Sloth to my back.

I moved my feet, anticipating how many fish had been caught in the fish trap.

Cheolseok! Cheolseok!

"Kiyaa."

Two again this time. Very happy.

Hauling in the trap, I looked forward to the feast for lunch.

Baseuraek!This story is hosted at novеlping.com.

It was when I was heading back pulling the trap. The sound of something brushing through the bushes echoed.

The moment I heard that sound, I assumed a guard stance just like I did this morning.

However, nothing could be heard after that.

’Am I overreacting?’

Or maybe having suffered so much recently, I was hearing auditory hallucinations.

Wiping my face with dry hands, I looked at Wonmo.

Wonmo was staring intently somewhere—specifically, high up in the trees.

"Wonmo-ya. Was there something there?"

"Kkyuu?"

"Never mind. Let’s go."

Bothering with it unnecessarily would only give me a headache.

Even if an ambush happened, Speed Sloth was with me, so I felt somewhat relieved.

Placing the two fish caught in the trap into the iron bucket, I began preparations.

[Passing Dwarf: Here is the barricade and the lid tray you wanted.]

The lid tray is pretty heavy, so be careful.

Thx thx. I’ll give it to you in a bit.

[Passing Dwarf: My mouth is already watering~ lol]

You too? Same here.

I installed the barricade received from the Dwarf at the desired location.

Thanks to my physical strength becoming vastly stronger than before, moving it wasn’t difficult either.

Next was the steel tray crafted to an appropriate size. I planned to lay the fish on top of this and slide it into the oven.

’He thoughtfully raised the edges so oil wouldn’t leak.’

I repeatedly slid the tray in and out of the entrance to test its performance.

Though being a bit heavy was a drawback, it was something I had to accommodate.

Still, it was magnificent. It felt like my quality of life was elevating step by step.

Tadak! Tadadak!

I lit a fire at the very bottom to gradually preheat it.

While it preheated, I gutted and prepped the fish. Even with an oven, the prep work itself didn’t change.

Instead, I spread it wide sideways so it would cook evenly. I didn’t forget to sprinkle salt either.

Seureureuk- tak!

Finally, placing the fish into the preheated oven completed the job.

The tray’s length and height fit perfectly; the Dwarf had gifted me a fine item.

’He said it takes about 15 to 20 minutes, right?’

Until then, I should play with Wonmo. Training to build Wonmo’s hunting skills.

Training was just tying a rope to a tree branch with a fish head attached to the end.

It was closer to playing with cats. The common point was that both were cute.

Through this, I could also slightly increase my own reaction speed.

"Kkyuu! Kkyuuuu!"

"That’s it! Good boy!"

While the fish placed inside the oven was cooking nicely...

"..."

Speed Sloth was merely staring blankly at the trees.

Buseureok!

Buseureok! Pasasak!

Certain beasts rapidly cut through the gaps between the trees.

Beasts moving swiftly not under the trees, but lightly stepping over the branches.

Though human-like in shape at first glance, one could tell they were not human by looking at their long arms and the fur covering their entire bodies.

Before long, those beasts traversed the forest faster than anyone else, reaching a specific area.

Upon reaching the specific area, what immediately met their eyes was an ape lying leisurely atop a tree.

Overall, it possessed an appearance resembling a gorilla, yet somehow its atmosphere was unusual.

"U-u! U-u-u!"

"U-u-u!"

The gorilla pack that had gone out on reconnaissance (?) began hooting as if trying to communicate something.

At that, the gorilla lying lazily atop the tree also slowly sat up.

Unlike before when it exuded a relaxed vibe, it now wore a dead serious face.

"U-u?"

"U-u-u!"

"U-u...!"

A subtle wind began to blow through the forest.