I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 246

Two days had passed since I underwent various training sessions, including mastering distance calibration.

Normally, I should have been out exploring, but Ludwig advised me otherwise:

Not only did I need to recalibrate my distance sense, but I also had to refrain from exploration until I could properly control this new power.

He said that while achieving Body Metamorphosis and acquiring the Aura Blade was wonderful, failing to handle them properly would only poison me.

I agreed to a certain extent, so I trained repeatedly until I could adapt.

The Aura now took a distinct form rather than a hazy shimmer, making distance judgment itself straightforward.

"$#@%%"

[He says that aside from measuring distance, you must master the fundamentals first.]

"Aren’t I already continuously learning the basics?"

Regardless, Ludwig advised me to unconditionally increase the time invested in basic fundamentals.

When I questioned this, a response came back that sounded brilliant even to my ears.

"#%@@#%."

[Producing a power of 50 with a 100% success rate is far more important than producing a power of 150 with a 50% chance.]

"@@$%^%."

[Unless your life is on the line, do not gamble. That is truly excellent advice.]

As Cain praised, Ludwig offered me advice that cut straight to the core of survival.

My current rate of growth could not be called normal by any stretch of the imagination.

It might have been different before, but now that I had acquired the Aura Blade, self-control was mandatory.

Possessing an Aura Blade wasn’t just about an increase in destructive power. It meant stepping into the realm of superhumans.

Of course, since I should have undergone Body Metamorphosis long ago, there wasn’t a massive overall difference in my physique.

My height and frame had grown slightly larger. The Aura Blade was the only meaningful upgrade.

Yet because of that single factor, I had no choice but to master the fundamentals.

"#@%#@₩?"

[To put it bluntly, what do you think would happen if a gorilla with a brain tumor swung an Aura Blade?]

"Hey, are you implying I’m a brain-tumored gorilla?"

"?"

At that conversation, Lackey standing nearby stared at us.

Hearing talk about a gorilla, he seemed to think someone was calling him.

Ludwig stared intently at Lackey, then tossed a remark to me:

"#%^^$."

[Even that white gorilla has excellent fundamentals, doesn’t he? Whereas you...]

"You’re really being too harsh. Still, I get what you mean."

In reality, strictly judging by martial arts realm and mastery, I was far lower than Lackey.

If it devolved into a pure clash of basic fundamentals, I would probably be the weakest one here.

’Still, calling me a brain-tumored gorilla is crossing the line.’

Anyway, the issue of proficiency was massive.

One wrong move could easily end up attacking teammates. Thus, power regulation was essential.

Specifically, I needed to become proficient enough to control Aura freely during sudden emergencies.

A martial artist who took a normal progression route would do all this as a matter of course, but not me.

Because I skipped all those steps and gained an Aura Blade directly, I needed far more effort than anyone else.

In the first place, it had only been a month since I gained mana. Even Ludwig hadn’t anticipated this.

’By the way, seeing how he raised the Hero, his explanations are delightfully vivid.’

The more instruction I received from Ludwig, the more I realized what an extraordinary teacher he was.

Heavenly Demon and Sword Matstar were also wonderful masters, but receiving direct instruction made comparison inevitable.

Just how strong must the Hero, Asella, be after being trained by such a person?

Even though she pulled dumb stunts constantly on the gallery, in reality she was probably different.

’He said it feels similar to gripping a weapon with a comfortable handle, right?’

I practiced Aura regulation according to Ludwig’s instructions.

He taught me that it was best to feel as though I was actively ’using’ the Aura.

Unless it was an abnormal weapon like the Mythricon sword, it usually just coated the surface of the blade.

Provided, of course, that we were talking about a ’normal’ person.

Ooooong!

"It is big."

"It sure is big."

However, I was different. As I had seen before, my Aura was big and beautiful like a giant club.

It was long, too. Roughly the length of two Swords of the Heavenly Demon attached end-to-end.

I had guessed back when it was just a hazy shimmer, but in terms of sheer quantity, my Aura was at an overwhelming level.

Considering that the Forest of the Four Seasons suppresses mana, its true output would be beyond imagination.

"If I swing this wrong, won’t it cause a disaster?"

"..."

Ludwig seemed to agree with my assessment, nodding solemnly.

Given the terrain of the forest, open clearings were extremely rare.

There would be at least a few trees nearby, and cutting them all down would only get in the way.

’First, I need to check how powerful this is.’

Maintaining my Aura hot bar—no, club—I stood in front of a tree.

Setting aside the hazy shimmer, an Aura Blade by itself was a vicious weapon.

Durability and cutting power increased dramatically, with its force scaling up as the color deepened.

’This looks like a club, but will it actually cut?’

Time to test it out. I carefully pressed the Aura against the tree.

Just in case the Sword of the Heavenly Demon itself did the cutting, I focused on bringing only the extended Aura into contact.

Taking a deep breath, I moved the sword slowly.

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"...?"

It cut, alright. And cleanly, too.

The problem was that the tree got sliced according to the thickness of the club.

Because of this, the entire section contacting the Aura vanished completely.

Udeudeok!

With its middle section erased, the tree collapsed powerlessly.

While the tree fell, I stepped backward to secure a safe distance.

Once the tree collapsed entirely, I stared at the Aura club.

’Are you telling me this thick beam itself is the blade?’

The part touched by the Aura was sliced cleanly away.

If it had crushed or shattered the wood, I would understand, but cutting it so smoothly was absurd.

Curious, I cautiously poked my index finger into the Aura.

"At-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!!!"

It cut me instantly. I hurriedly shook my hand and inspected my index finger.

Beads of blood were welling up on my index finger. Thank goodness I pulled away immediately; otherwise, it would have been dangerous.

Is this truly the power of an Aura Blade? I could only marvel.

"Mister. Is it normally supposed to be like this?"

"..."

"...Mister?"

However, judging by Ludwig’s expression, that was a no.

He was looking at me with a grave expression, as if this completely defied his expectations.

We’ve been practicing distance management and Aura control all this time—what on earth was wrong?

I carefully extinguished the Aura and waited for him to speak.

"...#%%^%?"

[He is asking if that was you doing what he asked.]

"Yeah, I did?"

What on earth could the problem be? As I expressed my confusion, Ludwig looked around.

He then walked over and fetched the Mythricon sword hanging at the entrance of the cave.

Ooooong-

A faint Aura Blade formed over the Mythricon sword.

Normally it should be larger than this, but due to the peculiar mana suppression of the Forest of the Four Seasons, this was the limit.

Yet did that mean its power was diminished? Not at all.

This was Ludwig, of all people; he could easily slice through a tree.

He approached the tree I had felled and brought his sword into contact with it.

Teok-

"Huh?"

I was mistaken.

Unlike mine, Ludwig’s sword failed to slice smoothly into the wood.

It caught midway, stuttering as if snagging on something.

Seogeok!

Of course, that happened because he hadn’t exerted physical force.

Once Ludwig applied a bit more force, the tree was sliced as easily as paper.

However, the reaction was so vastly different from mine that it was hard to put into words.

"#%$%^&. #$^&."

[Even with the same Aura, power varies based on proficiency and output. Currently, the amount of Aura I can utilize is about 30 percent.]

"That’s more than I thought."

"#$%^^&."

[He says that when he first entered this forest, even utilizing 10 percent was difficult.]

That was probably thanks to eating the Golden Acorn Jelly. Just a guess, though.

At any rate, what Ludwig wanted to say was this:

Just as my volume of Aura was abnormal, its cutting sharpness was equally insane.

Although sharpness scales with the quantity of Aura, mine was at a freaky, bizarre level.

"Isn’t that a good thing?"

"We die."

"Me?"

"Us."

"Ah."

It went back to his earlier warning: a single mistake could cause a massive disaster.

Because I cut through the tree so easily, it felt trivial, but trees are normally quite hard.

If even a tree gets sliced just by touching it, how much worse would it be against beasts or allies?

With the Sword of the Heavenly Demon amplifying its power, it was practically a demonic blade.

"#%%%@#."

[He says your very existence is a demonic blade.]

"Then what should I do? It’s not like I can just refrain from using Aura."

At my complaint, Ludwig offered a suggestion: How about reducing the quantity of Aura?

Starting by shrinking that ridiculous size down.

That way, swinging the sword would lessen the chance of causing an accidental catastrophe.

If my fundamentals had been stellar it might be fine, but to Ludwig, I was currently worse than a gorilla with a brain tumor.

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"Yes."

"Can’t shrink it more?"

"No, I can’t."

The problem was that even after shrinking it, it remained as bulky as a club.

Only the color had faded slightly; the size remained unchanged. Even I couldn’t control this properly.

Ludwig seemed never to have encountered such a situation before, staring blankly with his mouth agape.

Even the legendary figure who trained countless paladins and the Hero seemed to find me a tough nut to crack.

"...For now, compress it. Keep trying."

"Okay."

Still, what choice did I have? If I couldn’t compress it, the chances of a catastrophe were high.

I’ll try my best first, and if that doesn’t work out, we can look for another way.

’Let’s shrink it as much as possible.’

Mustering every ounce of focus, I squeezed down the size of the Aura Blade as much as I could.

It was difficult at first, but recalling Sword Matstar’s advice helped me gradually get the hang of it.

The problem was that compressing it forcibly felt oddly unstable.

It felt like shoving a highly elastic item into a small box and forcing the lid shut.

Ooooong-

Still, after putting in effort, I managed to cut its size in half.

The length was roughly 1.5 times that of the Sword of the Heavenly Demon. The thickness was also considerably slimmer.

"Mister. Is this enough or not..."

Just as I was about to show Ludwig the significantly shrunken Aura...

Was it because I loosened my mental hold, or because I pushed it to its absolute limits?

Ooooooooooong!!!

The Sword of the Heavenly Demon suddenly shuddered wildly.

Puaaaaaak!!!

The Aura burst forth like a jack-in-the-box popping out!

If it had been a simple surge of energy, I wouldn’t have used such a description.

Puak! Puak! Puaak!

The problem was that the erupting Aura began spraying out in every direction.

Detaching from the Sword of the Heavenly Demon, shards of Aura burst outward all around us.

Fortunately, the bursts were small and faint in color, but there was one major problem:

"Euaaaaak!"

"Kkyuaaaaak!"

"Ppiiiiik! Ppiik!"

"Ueoooorgh!!!"

Kwagang! Kwagwagang! Kkwaaang!!

It couldn’t be controlled! The Sword of the Heavenly Demon vibrated violently as Aura scattered everywhere.

In the aftermath, the shelter began turning into total chaos.

Faced with this sudden calamity, my animal friends scrambled frantically to hide.

Fearing a bigger disaster, I let go of the Sword of the Heavenly Demon, but...

Oong-oong-oong-oong-oong-oong!!!

It backfired completely! The sword began spinning midair like a top, spraying Aura everywhere.

In the end, I had no choice but to grab the Sword of the Heavenly Demon again.

The moment I grabbed the hilt, I dashed frantically toward the forest.

Getting far away from the shelter was the only way to prevent a catastrophic accident right now.

Even as I ran into the woods, Aura sprayed out in all directions.

"Euaaaah. Fuck! How do I stop this?!"

Innocent trees took the brunt of the damage.

"What the hell am I even doing right now?"

Only after throwing a wild frenzy in the forest for a while did the sword finally quiet down.

"I’m sorry!"

Returning to the shelter, I immediately apologized.

’Getting strong... no, just becoming normal is so damn hard.’

I realized that being strong and being normal were two completely different things.

Looking at the devastated shelter, Ludwig felt absurdity far more than despair.

Tools he had meticulously arranged were overturned, and several structures sustained significant damage.

Fortunately, no one in the group was injured, as they had swiftly taken shelter inside the brick house and cave.

The Aura scattered from Grylls’s sword was not powerful enough to cut through solid stone.

’In all my years, I have never witnessed such a sight.’

Having trained countless knights, Ludwig was prepared for all sorts of unexpected mishaps.

Accidents caused by someone failing to control their Aura like Grylls? They weren’t unheard of.

However, he had never seen compressed Aura explode and scatter violently in every direction like this.

Thank goodness Grylls had compressed a relatively small amount; if it had been any more... he didn’t even want to imagine it.

’What if he learns to master and control this?’

Ludwig stroked his chin and turned his head.

Grylls, the culprit behind this catastrophe, was currently rebuilding the shelter in silence.

’He must master it, no matter what.’

Ludwig decided to dedicate himself with even greater passion.

’Otherwise, my own life will be in grave danger.’

For since ancient times, an enemy within was always the most terrifying.

Even if the meaning here was slightly different.