I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 139

A Mature Mandrake that had turned completely blue, likely from absorbing the Ice Snow Flower.

Mature Mandrakes look disturbingly human, making it all the more terrifying.

With its eyes wide open and its mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, it looked like it was on the verge of freezing to death.

Pondering what on earth I should do with this, I posted a comment first.

If anyone knew even a little bit about this phenomenon, it would be Lady Starlight.

↳ Wild Grylls) (Video of the blue Mandrake) It turned like this. Why is it doing this?

↳ Lady Starlight) Huh? Why did it turn like that? Why is it blue?

↳ Wild Grylls) Excuse me... ;;

↳ Whoa. Why did that thing turn blue?

↳ Did it turn into a blue mod too?

↳ It looks like it’s just dead, what do you mean blue mod? ;;

Even Lady Starlight seemed flustered. This wasn’t looking good.

But as the saying goes, even if the sky collapses, there’s always a way out.

Before long, Lady Starlight replied with an explanation.

↳ Lady Starlight) It seems the Mature Mandrake absorbed the Ice Snow Flower... First, we need to check if it’s alive. Could you try poking it with a chopstick or a twig?

↳ Wild Grylls) I poked it, but all it does is open and close its mouth.

↳ Lady Starlight) Is it screaming?

↳ Wild Grylls) It does scream, but not continuously. It cuts off in intervals.

↳ Lady Starlight) It really seems the Mature Mandrake absorbed the Ice Snow Flower. I didn’t expect this at all.

↳ Wild Grylls) What should I do now?

↳ Lady Starlight) Surprisingly, it’s not a bad situation. It means their energies have merged. Consuming it raw would be dangerous, so I’ll teach you how to extract it.

↳ Wild Grylls) Can’t I just transfer this to you directly? You could extract it right away.

↳ Lady Starlight) That’s not a bad option either, but I’m worried the effects of the Ice Snow Flower might vanish if something goes wrong.

↳ Passing Dwarf) Can’t you just brew liquor out of that? I feel like that would be way better.

↳ Wild Grylls) Be honest. You just want it for yourself, don’t you?

↳ Passing Dwarf) Was it that obvious? If you find any more, give me one.

↳ Wild Grylls) Sigh, lol. So predictable, seriously.

↳ He’s really trying to turn everything in the Forest of Four Seasons into booze lol

↳ Next thing you know he’ll be making snake wine lol

I lightly ignored the alcoholic Dwarf’s words and waited for Lady Starlight to explain the method.

The combination of an Ice Snow Flower and a Mature Mandrake was new even to Lady Starlight.

Both were rare herbs money couldn’t buy, yet I had merged them.

An idea and a method only possible for someone living in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

’Setting the Mature Mandrake aside, finding another Ice Snow Flower will be tough.’

Truth be told, if this experiment failed, I had no idea when I’d ever get another Ice Snow Flower.

Unlike the Mature Mandrakes, they didn’t grow in clusters.

I prayed it wouldn’t fail. This could be my first and last chance.

↳ Lady Starlight) (Diagram of Mandrake anatomy) As you can see in the photo, since Mandrakes resemble humans, their vital points are similar too. You have a syringe, right?

↳ Wild Grylls) The one I got from you before?

↳ Lady Starlight) Yes. Fill it with Elixir and jam it straight into the Mandrake’s mouth.

↳ Wild Grylls) That feels like torture though?

↳ Lady Starlight) Exactly. You just need to force-feed it until its belly is fully bloated.

↳ Wild Grylls) Understood.

↳ Poor Mandrake...

↳ Damn humans, I’m sorry...

↳ Stuffing it so hard it can’t even scream lmao

↳ Couldn’t he just crush it into juice? Poor guy lol

↳ Lady Starlight) After that, put it in a mortar and crush it thoroughly. That should extract a concentrated essence.

↳ Wild Grylls) That’s a remarkably primitive method.

↳ Lady Starlight) There’s no other way. Do you need a mortar?

↳ Wild Grylls) No, I can buy one from the auction house.

Knowing nothing about this, I had no choice but to do as I was told.

Following Lady Starlight’s instructions, I drew the Elixir into the syringe.

Then, I plunged it straight into the mouth of the blue Mature Mandrake.

Stab!

"Gwerhk?! Gwuk! Gwoo-eargh!"

The moment the syringe went in, the Mandrake thrashed violently to scream.

But since I held its mouth shut, its struggles were in vain.

Still, because it looked human, it even flailed its arms and legs.

It even tried to grab the needle with its hands to pull out the syringe stuck in its mouth.

Thwack! Smack!

"Gwerb?! Gwub!"

So I slapped it a few times to get it to behave.

It was a nuisance, but since it was all part of extracting the essence, I endured it.You are reading on nov⁠elping.com, the official source.

Thus, I injected the entirety of the Elixir into the Mature Mandrake.

Its body remained blue, but it gradually began to glow.

It seemed to be absorbing the energy of the Elixir.

"Kiyoo...!"

Thwack!

"Gwek! Kiyoooo...!"

Crack! Thump!

"Kwee-ek! Kiyoooot...!"

"..."

"Kiyoooooot! Kiyoooo!!"

"Ah, give me a break."

Had this guy taken drugs instead of an Ice Snow Flower?

The moment I pulled the syringe from its mouth, it started letting out bizarre shrieks. Not the typical Mandrake scream.

Instead, it sounded like it was heavily high on something. Even punching it barely calmed it down.

It seemed to be recovering in real-time due to the injected Elixir.

Its face even wore a dazed, blissed-out expression, reacting just like a real drug addict.

Since an Elixir was fundamentally a powerful ’medicine,’ it seemed to have caused an odd reaction in the Mandrake.

Thwack! Thump! Whack!

"Kwek! Ke-ek! Kwee-ek!"

So I beat it up a few more times, leaving the Mandrake limp like a corpse.

Having used half a bottle of Elixir, I prepared the mortar.

For hygiene’s sake, I didn’t forget to wash both the mortar and the Mandrake with water.

’She told me to grind it finely and collect the juice, right?’

According to Lady Starlight, the juice was the essence.

Incidentally, Lady Starlight prioritizes ’safety’ above all else.

While there might be more potent methods, she prioritized safety because those would put my survival at risk.

Since I had zero intention of risking my life just to gain power, I obediently followed her advice.

Pound! Thump! Pound!

I thoroughly crushed the Mature Mandrake inside the mortar.

It wasn’t a small bowl, but a full-sized wooden mortar—the kind originally used for pounding grain.

I bought it specifically to extract as much essence as possible.

’Is this good enough?’

After pounding it for quite some time, the Mature Mandrake was completely mashed. It was still blue.

Tilted the mortar slightly, I poured the essence into the thoroughly washed empty bottle that had contained the Elixir.

It was only a few drops, but I wasn’t done yet.

Squeeze!

I grabbed the finely ground Mandrake and squeezed it with all my strength.

Using every bit of grip strength I possessed, veins bulged on the back of my hand.

Drip! Drip!

The juice dripped down.

Repeating this several times, I managed to fill about half the bottle.

Since the Elixir bottle was small, it wasn’t a huge amount, but it was plenty.

Shaaaaa—

Perhaps because it contained the Elixir, the essence wasn’t a plain blue.

It was a stunning color, an exquisite blend of ice-white and vibrant blue.

Glowing like an Elixir, it looked like a precious medicine just by its appearance.

↳ Wild Grylls) (Photo of glowing blue essence) Extracted it all. Do I just drink it now?

↳ Lady Starlight) Yes. Just in case, I’ll send you one more Elixir. It’s filled with pure Yang essence, so it should serve well for emergency use.

↳ Wild Grylls) Thank you.

Now that I had received an emergency Elixir from Lady Starlight, all that was left was to drink this.

Staring at the shimmering blue essence, I took a deep breath.

Essence was a liquid holding powerful energy. It was easiest to think of it as a liquid Inner Core.

So, as long as I recited the second mnemonic taught by Heavenly Demon and calmly regulated the energy, it should be fine.

’I even mixed in Elixir to keep it safe, so it’ll be fine.’

The first time is always the hardest. Gulping down my saliva, I downed the essence in one gulp.

From my mouth down to my throat, an intense, piercing coldness flared.

On top of that came an extreme bitterness. A bitterness so intense it squeezed my face into a grimace.

The bitterness was so overwhelming compared to the cold that I almost failed to activate my mental cultivation art.

’Th-the heaven becomes me... Wait, no!’

To make matters worse, my head throbbed with a sharp brain freeze, just like eating ice cream too fast.

The 1-2 combo of intense bitterness and brain freeze made me dizzy, but I managed to recite the mnemonic anyway.

Although there was no actual pain, the sheer sensory onslaught was incredibly tough to bear.

Still, I pushed through. Instead of losing focus and being overwhelmed by the energy, I focused on absorbing it.

As Heavenly Demon had taught me, to master the energy of heaven, one must first understand it.

I strove to feel every single strand of the essence’s energy to its fullest.

Fwooosh!You are reading on novelpin⁠g.com, the official source.

The combined result of a safety-oriented recipe and my effort gradually manifested.

The essence began to flow along the pathways where mana traveled according to my mental cultivation art.

If I kept circulating it like this, I’d be able to absorb all of it before long.

Though it felt as if a solid block of ice were lodged inside my body, it was bearable.

Fwoooosh!

How much time had passed? I managed to completely absorb the essence.

After circulating my cultivation art a bit longer, I slowly opened my eyes.

Upon opening my eyes, I saw Speed Sloth staring blankly at me.

"Phew..."

"..."

Seeing Speed Sloth meant I was still alive. I let out a long sigh.

As I exhaled, a cloud of frosty white breath escaped my mouth.

’Did I... succeed?’

Having absorbed all the essence, I examined my body. Nothing noticeably different had changed.

The same went for the cold. It was still freezing.

It seemed I hadn’t gained the cold resistance that was my original objective. What a shame.

’Disappointing, but it can’t be helped. Lady Starlight wasn’t certain either.’

Besides, throwing safety out the window hadn’t been an option anyway.

I posted on the Gallery to share the results.

Title: 1st Crafting Result

Wild Grylls

Doesn’t look like anything really changed. Seems like it was completely neutralized.

↳ Lady Starlight) What a shame. I’m truly sorry for my shortcomings.

↳ Wild Grylls) Not at all. Lady Starlight, you didn’t do anything wrong. Succeeding on the first try would’ve been stranger, right?

↳ Lady Starlight) Setting the Ice Snow Flower aside, I think I need to research Mature Mandrakes a bit more. Could you give me one later?

↳ Wild Grylls) Sure. Since you gave me the Elixir, I’ll definitely give you one.

↳ Passing Dwarf) See? I told you making booze out of it would be better.

↳ Wild Grylls) Stop talking nonsense.

↳ Lady Starlight) It’s not entirely nonsense. Drinking snake wine or ginseng liquor is essentially consuming the essence.

↳ Passing Dwarf) See that? lol

↳ Wild Grylls) Still, booze is a bit much... ;;

↳ Passing Dwarf) Take a leap of faith and try making one. I’ll trade you something legendary for it.

↳ Wild Grylls) If I can even make it lol

I needed another Ice Snow Flower to make anything in the first place.

Soothing my disappointment, I checked the time. There was still a bit left.

Building a Stone Ice Storage would take too long, but there was enough time to chop some firewood to survive the night.

Fwoosh!

"Hmm?"

It happened when I ignited Aura on my axe for easier woodcutting. I noticed something strange.

Originally, Aura was almost colorless.

But not right now. It was a vibrant blue—and a bone-chillingly cold blue at that.

’Wait. It’s actually cold?’

It flickered like fire, yet emitted pure frost—a bizarre sight.

Out of curiosity, I reached out toward the Aura, but my hand was completely unharmed.

’Did it just become refreshing?’

Great, so it’s all show and no substance? I chuckled softly.

Anyway, what mattered right now was woodcutting. Changed color or not, Aura was still Aura.

Using the full force of my waist, I swung the axe.

Thwack!

The axe blade embedded itself squarely into the center of the trunk.

Crackle-clack-clack!!!

Starting from that point of impact, the entire tree froze solid!

"..."

I could only gape at the unbelievable sight before me.

’What on earth did I swallow?’

I couldn’t tell if I should be happy or horrified.

Regardless, one thing was certain.

’Th-this is insane...!’

I had unintentionally gained an incredible ability.

An Ice Snow Flower, a Mature Mandrake, and finally an Elixir.

Each of them was extraordinarily rare, so mixing them all together produced a natural result.

’...What happens if I channel this into a sword?’

Suddenly, that useless thought popped into my head.