I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 126

The Mythricon sword that Passing Dwarf had advised him to give away as cautiously as possible.

Originally, he had planned to hand it over only after they verified their location at the entrance of the Forest of the Four Seasons.

But some ahjussi had verified his identity in a bizarre way.

He must have been quite a famous figure, as there were even people who recognized him.

The master of the Hero, who was currently branded a traitor and on the run.

The fact that such a figure had been dispatched with the investigation team threw the Gallery into an absolute frenzy.

’And the Orange Badge seemed to know him, too.’

Most of all, the fact that the Orange Badge had seemed so incredibly shocked lingered in his mind.

She was so shocked that even the exclamation marks she always tacked onto the end of her sentences had vanished.

[Wild Grylls: Not only that, but she even made a separate request of me.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Um... Grylls-nim!]

Could I ask you for just one favor!

[Wild Grylls: What kind of favor?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: That gift you said you’d give once they verified they’re part of the investigation team!]

Could you please give it to Ludwig-nim, who just posted!

I can vouch for him!

Is he someone you know?

Don’t Abandon the Hero:

Yes! He’s someone I know very well!

[Wild Grylls: Well, if it’s a request from the Orange Badge-nim...]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Thank you!]

Next time you do something worthy of a ban, I’ll give you a free pass!

And so, a deal that wasn’t quite a deal was struck.

As for him, he could just craft a new sword, so it wasn’t a losing trade.

Above all, it was crucial that the investigation team survived after entering the forest and managed to reach where he was.

One might argue that it would be better to give them an Elixir as well for that purpose, but that was a different story.

The Elixir was something Starlight Lady had painstakingly crafted. Although he had obtained it through a trade, it also contained her goodwill.

If he were to just hand over such goodwill to a stranger, Starlight Lady might feel uncomfortable. That was just how human hearts worked.

’Since they’re an investigation team, they must have packed a wide variety of remedies and medicines anyway.’

Even if they weren’t on par with an Elixir, they would have prepared excellent healing agents.

In that case, all that was left was to wait for them to arrive.

No one knew how long it would take. The space in this region was highly unstable and erratic.

Furthermore, the land was comparable in size to a small country, so if they were unlucky, they might never cross paths.

’They might even settle down in a decent spot, just like I did.’

If they could use the Gallery, locating them would be dozens of times easier.

However, it was common knowledge that using the Gallery inside the Forest of the Four Seasons was impossible.

El Dorado was certain that the Gallery could be used, but who knew? Perhaps he was just a special case.

’Should they have entered by now?’

He checked the posts written by the ahjussi who had introduced himself as Ludwig.

There hadn’t been any new posts since he handed over the sword. It was almost as if the man had taken the goods and run.

He wished the man would at least post a verification that he was entering the Forest of the Four Seasons, but there was nothing of the sort.

Perhaps, being a true ahjussi, he had simply received the gift and immediately plunged inside.

’If the Gallery had worked for him, he would have written a post... What a shame.’

Not just five minutes, but a whole hour had already passed. Yet, no posts had gone up.

The Gallery also seemed curious about Ludwig’s whereabouts, but there was no proper way to find out.

There was, however, one way to find out indirectly: asking the Orange Badge.

The Orange Badge could check the real-time locations of not only registered users but also anonymous ones.

It was a privilege and right unique to the Orange Badge. With this, she could track them to some extent.

’I should ask her.’

The Orange Badge seemed to know the man, and it was important to him as well.

He immediately sent a message to the Orange Badge, hoping she was currently on the Gallery.

Orange Badge-nim.

Do you happen to know where the registered user ’Ludwig van Erold’ is?

[Wild Grylls: Is he still outside the Forest of the Four Seasons?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: He’s still right in front of the entrance to the Forest of the Four Seasons!]

I sent him a message, but he isn’t replying!

[Wild Grylls: Did something happen?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I don’t know that either!]

I think we’ll only know as time passes!

Did something happen? Hearing the Orange Badge’s explanation made him wonder.

Even on the Gallery, people were saying that while they called it an ’investigation team,’ it was practically a purge.

This was because sending someone into the Forest of the Four Seasons made it highly likely they would end up classified as ’missing.’

’Or maybe, because he’s an ahjussi, he just doesn’t know how to send messages?’

It wasn’t entirely out of the question. But that wasn’t certain either.

Only when the investigation team entered the Forest of the Four Seasons could he begin drawing up a proper plan.

’No, what plan?’

In a place where space shifted entirely at its own whim, what was there to rely on besides pure luck?Get faster updates on novelping . com.

If they were lucky, they might drop into the same part of the forest where he was; if they were unlucky, they might land on the complete opposite side.

Furthermore, according to the Orange Badge, his current location was the very heart of the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Even if the probability of crossing paths was abysmally low, he had no choice but to have faith.

’For now, let’s just make some charcoal.’

Until they actually entered the Forest of the Four Seasons, there was almost nothing he could do.

Since he had his own tasks to attend to, he planned to focus on his own work for the time being.

’Let’s see. The charcoal kiln...’

The charcoal he had obtained from campfires so far was a minuscule amount. It wasn’t even enough to fill a single small container, which said it all.

Yet, he used massive amounts of charcoal every time he crafted swords and various other tools.

He needed to find a way to obtain charcoal in bulk, by any means necessary.

He was a complete novice in this area, but there was someone who knew it inside out.

[Starlight Lady: Cutting off the oxygen supply is the most important part of making charcoal.]

[Wild Grylls: Cutting off oxygen?]

[Starlight Lady: Yes.]

Charcoal is made through incomplete combustion, and the condition for that is depriving it of oxygen.

Would you like me to explain it in detail?

No.

That’s alright.

Thank you so much anyway.

[Starlight Lady: Don’t mention it.]

Feel free to ask me anything related to alchemy anytime.

That person was none other than the prodigy of alchemy, Starlight Lady. She was the registered user who had previously shared knowledge about smoking meat.

One might ask if it wouldn’t be better to ask Allfather, but since their fields of expertise seemed different, he had asked Starlight Lady instead.

Passing Dwarf was all about metallurgy—meaning metals—so he hadn’t even considered him.

’Depriving it of oxygen, huh...’

Only by cutting off oxygen could incomplete combustion be achieved, and by extension, charcoal be produced.

As he pondered this quietly, the oven caught his eye.

Specifically, the mud smeared between the gaps of the oven. It had now hardened and was serving as an adhesive.

’That’s it!’

Inspiration struck. He immediately began gathering wood.

The path that the boss gorilla had cleared with a single punch earlier.

Since the fallen trees lay there forming a path, sourcing the wood itself wasn’t difficult.

’I’ll have to explore that path later.’

He gathered the logs and stacked them upright, as if preparing a campfire.

Now, he would light a fire... actually, he didn’t light it yet. He had to apply mud over it to block out the oxygen.

If he just slapped mud directly onto the logs, it wouldn’t stick well and would likely slide right off.

’I’ll rough out a shape with branches first.’

So, he wrapped branches—especially those with dry leaves still attached—around the logs.

Once they were all in place, he thickly slathered mud over them to form a kiln shape.

This wasn’t the end. Since it needed to burn vigorously at first, he poked holes here and there.

The very top was the same. He planned to feed the fire through there.

Hwareuk!

Finally, he dropped a burning branch into the top and checked to see if it caught fire properly.

The top caught fire easily, of course, but the bottom was what mattered. This was precisely why he had dug the holes.

Once he felt the bottom was burning well, he sealed up all the ventilation holes to cut off the oxygen.

"Kollok! Kollok! Ugh. It’s so acrid, so stinging. Did I check for nothing?"

He had poked a hole in the middle to check if it was burning well, only to inhale a face full of smoke.

At any rate, now that he had confirmed it was burning well, he could move on to other tasks.

’How’s the situation right now?’

He logged into the Gallery to check if anything had changed.

But there were no posts written by Ludwig. Instead, only rumors regarding the investigation team were circulating.

Claims that infighting had broken out within the investigation team, that the gift Grylls gave was too powerful and caused trouble, and so on.

All sorts of speculative posts were running rampant, but their credibility was close to zero.

’Why would infighting break out? It’s already a place with a low survival rate.’

Please don’t fight. Just enter peacefully and meet up with me.

Well, honestly, since there was no guarantee they could even make it in...

It was probably best to keep his expectations low.

He scrolled through the Gallery for a bit before quickly closing it. Nothing particularly caught his eye.

’Wait. Come to think of it, even if they do enter the forest, will they be able to make it to my side?

Occasionally, plumes of smoke would rise high into the sky, but that would be far from enough.

In this godforsaken forest, compasses didn’t work, and the terrain was incredibly difficult to gauge, making it extremely easy to get lost.

He was fine because he had some experience and only stuck to familiar paths, but there was no way newcomers would have that kind of know-how.

’I should at least make some signposts.’

So, he decided to place signposts along the way so they could find where he was.This chapter is updated first at novеlping.com.

It was a bit of a dumbass idea, but it was an effective method. He immediately prepared his tools.

Since there were no signposts listed on the auction house, he had no choice but to craft them himself.

Sarak! Sarak! Sarak!

Wood was practically everywhere around here. He crafted the signposts out of dry wood of a suitable size.

He carved grooves into planks and made separate stakes to slot them together.

’It’d be better to paint them white so they’re easy to spot, right?’

He bought the paint from the auction house. This was expensive, too.

He drew a house in the center of the arrow-shaped plank.

A trapezoid sitting on top of a square. He even drew a window inside the square.

So that it would clearly signal: ’Someone lives here!’

It looked decent enough. The height was between his chest and neck. This way, it would easily catch anyone’s eye.

Title) I made some signposts.

Wild Grylls

Just in case the investigation team misses me, I made some signposts. I’m heading out to plant them now.

To the investigation team members! If you see this, just follow the arrows! That’s where I am!

ㄴHeavenly Demon) You made them quite neatly. Between this and the sword, your handiwork is truly exceptional.

ㄴWild Grylls) Thank you haha

ㄴAren’t you getting your hopes up way too much? lol

ㄴI thought this bastard was joking, but he’s dead serious lmao

ㄴWhat are you gonna do if nobody actually comes to the Forest of the Four Seasons?

ㄴWild Grylls) I’m gonna hold Wonmo and sob my eyes out.

ㄴlmao

ㄴlol

ㄴThat’s kind of cute lol

ㄴWhat did Wonmo do to deserve that? lol

ㄴWild Grylls) He’s my only source of emotional healing.

ㄴAre you that lonely? Should I go there for you?

ㄴWild Grylls) Really?

ㄴOf course it’s a lie, pfft

ㄴWild Grylls) You evil bastard lol

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero) If you really do meet him, please treat him warmly! Ludwig-ssi is a truly kind person!

ㄴWild Grylls) Well, they have to actually enter the forest first for me to do anything, right? There’s still no news of them entering...

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero) That’s true! Honestly, I hope he doesn’t go in!

ㄴWild Grylls) You’re crushing my hopes.

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero) I’m sorry, but I think it’s better for your hopes to be broken than for a person’s life to be pointlessly sacrificed!

ㄴWild Grylls) Fuck T_T I have nothing to say to that.

ㄴThat’s tragic, Grylls... but the Orange Badge is right.

ㄴYou’re the weird one here. Normally, if you enter the Forest of the Four Seasons, you die within a few days...

ㄴWild Grylls) But if you’re skilled enough, your chances of survival are higher. My senior was here, too.

ㄴSenior? You mean that skeleton?

ㄴSo you finally acknowledged him as your senior lol

Even though even the Orange Badge had indirectly told him to abandon hope, he did not give up!

Of course, that didn’t mean he wanted them to throw away their lives just to come here.

It was just... he was keeping in mind the possibility of the investigation team becoming ’castaways.’

’Are they still waiting outside the entrance?’

With that thought in mind, he crafted even more signposts.

He planned to install them at every path he had traversed so far.

’I really want to talk to another human being.’

After two weeks, loneliness was slowly creeping in.

While Grylls was very kindly crafting and installing signposts,

Ppeong!

"Aaaaargh!!!"

A Paladin went flying toward the entrance of the Forest of the Four Seasons.

His arms flailed wildly, as if desperately protesting against going inside.

The Paladin was visible to the naked eye for only a brief moment.

The moment he crossed the ’entrance’ of the Forest of the Four Seasons, the Paladin vanished without a trace.

"Huuu..."

The other Paladin who had kicked him in the back, Ludwig, let out a deep breath.

He then slowly turned around, facing the surveillance team that was radiating hostility.

Seueuk-

Ludwig pointed his sword, which shimmered like a flowing green galaxy.

Then, radiating a brilliant aura, he spoke.

"Anyone else want to go in?"

Just as Grylls had hoped, Ludwig was kindly ’supplying’ survivors.