I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 27

I stared at the red fish tightly blocking the passage.

Stones had been set up around the passage to regulate the water current.

Because I had fashioned a temporary passage with a shovel, the depth wasn’t deep either.

Apparently, it had bad luck entering the passage and couldn’t get back out.

The water current itself was fierce, and its body fit the passage so snugly it would be hard to escape.

’Why is its body so huge?’

It was large enough to pack the passage full.

When I first saw it, I thought it was a catfish rather than an ordinary fish.

But except for its body being red, it was an ordinary-looking fish.

Normal fish tend to be narrow, but this guy was wide even in that regard.

If lifted, I’d have to use both hands.

I don’t know much about fish, but I could be sure it wasn’t a catfish.

’Can I eat it?’

I looked at the fish busy flopping around continuously.

It flopped to somehow escape, but unfortunately the water depth was shallow.

Seeing its mouth stick out of the water gasping, breathing seemed tough for it too.

Flop! Flop! Flop!

"Got good strength, huh."

I wrapped my arms around the violently thrashing fish and lifted it.

Its size was comparable to my own torso, making it hard even to balance.

If I wasn’t careful, it might bounce back into the river, so I stepped away as far as possible.

I planned to carry it directly with both hands to the cave and keep it in a barrel.

’Just in case, I should run.’

Meeting a wild animal on the way would be trouble.

If that happened, I’d use this fish as bait and run.

Fortunately, no such thing happened, and I was able to return safely.

"Kkyu?"

"No. You already ate."

Wonmo immediately expressed curiosity when I brought the fish back.

I pushed Wonmo back and placed the fish into the barrel.

Since it was an empty barrel, I didn’t forget to pour water in.

Pouring water made the red fish somewhat calmer. Looking at it like this, it really was huge.

It was a tub originally used for me or Wonmo to wash in, but it filled it almost completely.

Title: Jackpot catch

Wild Grylls

(Photo of a red fish the size of a shield)

Water wasn’t coming out well from the hose today, so I went up and found this guy blocking it. Really huge.

Since I ate breakfast, I plan to settle lunch with this guy.

Feels like I’ll feast for the first time in a while hehe

ㄴ Heavenly Demon: Oho. A remarkably large fellow. Judging by size and color alone, it is not inferior to the Sun Fire Carp.

ㄴ Wild Grylls: What’s that?

ㄴ Heavenly Demon: A spiritual beast containing solar essence. A very precious specimen. However, it is merely similar; the probability of it being real is low.

ㄴ Wild Grylls: How do I check if it’s real?

ㄴ Heavenly Demon: You must first check whether it harbors an Inner Core.

An Inner Core... isn’t that something like a clam producing a pearl?

I wasn’t sure, but I figured it would probably possess an effect similar to Spiritual Medicine.

Of course, I didn’t actually think this guy was a spiritual beast.

Even if it was a spiritual beast, it didn’t matter. Today’s lunch was decided to be this guy.

ㄴ No way. A spiritual beast pops out at every turn lol

ㄴ Is that really a Sun Fire Carp?

ㄴ Who knows. Grylls has to check.

ㄴ Wasn’t there something similar to the Sun Fire Carp?

ㄴ Heavenly Demon: If you refer to the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Carp, indeed. Literally a carp that lived ten thousand years.

ㄴ Starlight Lady: In the old days, I would have told you to tear it open right away, but now there’s no need for that.

ㄴ Wasn’t that "old days" literally yesterday?

ㄴ Starlight Lady: To me, it’s the old days. Every single day felt like a year.

ㄴ It could feel that way.

ㄴ Must feel like being reborn?

ㄴ Goo goo gaga. I’m reborn. Feed me food.

ㄴ Crazy bastard hahahaha

ㄴ Hahaha

ㄴ Hahaha

ㄴ Starlight Lady: You people are always consistent. Truly like idiots ^^

But right now, it’s my lunch.

Whatever the Gallery said, this guy was scheduled to become my lunch.

So rather than exploration, spending the morning repairing the shelter seemed better.

Just in case Wonmo ate the fish.

Even now, staring intently at the iron barrel containing the fish, he was biding his time for a chance.

"Hey!"

I gave a warning to Wonmo, who was reaching out his paw toward the fish.

Then Wonmo looked at me with eyes so round they were practically popping.This chapter is updated first at novelpin⁠g.com.

A look asking what wrong he had committed. A pure face made him even cuter.

"You can’t eat that. I’ll give you honey after lunch later."

"Kkyuu."

"Yeah. Good boy, Wonmo."

I patted Wonmo’s head a few times and looked around the surroundings.

To build the barrier wall, clearing out the trees was top priority first.

Was that why? My chest already felt heavy. When could I ever clear all of that?

’Little by little, mountains are built. Gotta get to it.’

Grumbling internally, I walked over to a tree. How could it be this thick?

Still, my condition was great today. I gripped the axe tightly and swung hard.

Having swung it a few times, whether I caught the trick, I could effortlessly utilize my hips’ power too.

Kwajik!

"Huh?"

The moment the axe bit into the tree, a puzzled sound came out of my mouth.

Naturally so, because a situation far too different from yesterday greeted my eyes.

Yesterday, the axe took multiple strikes just to dig inside, but today was different.

The axe blade sank deep into the interior of the wood. Even the sound was different.

’What’s this? Is this tree weaker than yesterday’s?’

The axe couldn’t have changed in the meantime.

My condition being good today played a part, and the tree seemed weak too.

Even so, the doubt wasn’t cleared, but since it was good for me, I let it slide.

’A good thing is a good thing.’

Kwajik! Kwajik! Kwak!

Soon, after hacking at the tree about three more times, I inspected the central trunk.

Surprisingly, the center of the tree was almost entirely dug out. Hacking at the opposite side would probably tip it over.

’Already?’

Up until yesterday, I swung the axe all day long just to chop down a single tree.

Then I ran into the Owlbear and faced a crisis.

Passing it off as simply being a different tree or being in good condition raised several doubts.

Yet there wasn’t a total lack of clues. There was one thing different from yesterday.

’Is it really because of the breathing technique?’

The possibility was high. That was the only thing different from yesterday.

Either way, getting stronger wasn’t a bad thing. Let alone in an environment like this, where power was vital.

’I should work even harder from now on.’

To think labor time was shortened this much by a single breathing technique. Truly a wondrous world.

Fantasy and martial arts appropriately blended together, and superhumans capable of blowing up mountains existing.

Yet these people didn’t believe a single bomb could eradicate a city. When their own existence was essentially a nuclear bomb.

’I’m really curious about the outside world.’

The world shown through the Gallery is narrow. And extremely subjective.

Well, the poor treatment of Alfheim, the land of elves, was universally shared, though.

Shaking off stray thoughts, I repositioned to the opposite side of the tree.

Hacking here would cause the tree to fall in the desired direction.

Kwajik! Kwadeuk! Kkwadeudeuk!

After chopping a few times, the tree slowly began to tilt and sway.

Checking the trajectory, I kicked the tree hard.

The towering tree slowly began to fall with a loud udeudeuk! creak.

Kuuung!

I felled a tree in less than 10 minutes. Fast—far too fast of a work speed.

Looking at the fallen tree, I checked my physical state.

I was slightly fatigued, but not to the extent of needing a rest.

’I’ll chop a little more before resting.’

After chopping down one more tree, I finally felt somewhat tired.

But it was literally just feeling tired; chopping down one more tree wouldn’t be overexertion.

After felling a total of 3 trees like that, I finished registering them on the Auction House.

’It’s starting to clear up nicely.’

Having logged 4 trees in total by now, the area around the cave had widened.

Feeling inexplicably proud, I smiled briefly before stepping inside the cave for proper rest.

Saeek- saeek-

Entering the cave, Wonmo was taking an afternoon nap.

As I mentioned before, Wonmo is still a cub. He’ll probably sleep all day long.

’The fish is doing fine too.’

Inside the iron barrel, it stayed quietly without even thrashing around.

Setting down the axe, I logged into the Gallery to see if anything had happened in the meantime.

Nothing particularly eye-catching stood out, but there was one thing that caught my attention.

’The Orange Badge’s activity has slowed down a bit.’

The Orange Badge’s activity had slackened. The Orange Badge is the Gallery administrator.

Normally, she should be banning users posting lewd pics, gore/nsfw pics, or extreme profanity.

Pictures of older sisters

Hope all elves fucking die

Gore Warning) Photo of my handVisit novelping(.)com for the full chapter.

Such posts remained even though 10 minutes had passed since upload.

Normally they’d be chopped down instantly like a knife, but not this time.

Users considered this an opportunity and began unleashing their desires without restraint.

"...."

Pretending not to care, I also sneakily clicked on the posts.

Being in the wild with nothing around, the Gallery was my sole pleasure.

Of course, it wasn’t urgent right now; it was strictly eye candy.

Busy making a living right now, I didn’t have the luxury to indulge beyond that.

Grylls-ssi. Please take a look.

Refreshing a few times, someone caught my eye.

’Allfather?’

Normally I would skip it, but since the author was a familiar fixed handle, I couldn’t pass it by.

I clicked immediately.

Title: Grylls-ssi, please take a look.

Allfather

The item promised is ready. Please request a trade whenever you are ready.

Apparently, the medicine mentioned earlier was completed. The medicine made from the Golden Poison Frog.

He said ingesting it grants permanent poison immunity, so it’s an absolute necessity.

ㄴ Wild Grylls: Did you finish making the medicine you mentioned before?

ㄴ Allfather: Yes. I have made a ten-day supply. As for the rest, it seems I will need more specimens.

ㄴ Wild Grylls: Once I catch more Golden Frogs, I’ll give them to you right away.

ㄴ Allfather: Thank you. I will be waiting.

Gaining poison immunity would overwhelmingly boost my survival odds.

For that, I’d have to hunt Golden Frogs again.

Conveniently having taken a proper rest, I grabbed the crossbow resting against the wall.

The arrows previously embedded in the Owlbear’s head were also intact.

’Curious, isn’t it.’

Back then, panicked, I listed the carcass whole on the Auction House with the arrows stuck inside.

But the arrows embedded in the head weren’t treated as part of the listing, so they detached on their own.

I almost lost the hard-earned arrows and harpoons.

Kkiiiiiik-

I pulled the crossbow string. The string pulled back easily.

What used to require all my strength to pull was now done with just a clench of my teeth.

’My strength has definitely improved.’

With this, I gained confirmation. I hadn’t picked weak trees to chop.

My raw muscle strength had purely increased. All because of a simple breathing technique.

A truly dramatic phenomenon, so rather than admiration, questions bloomed.

Sooner or later, it would be good to post on the Gallery and seek advice from Heavenly Demon or Sword Matstar.

’Preparations are all finished...’

I checked on Wonmo sleeping soundly and the fish inside the iron barrel.

Not a single issue to speak of. Now I just need to hunt Golden Frogs and I’m set.

Just in case, I carried my sword and shield to prepare for emergencies.

I didn’t forget to slip a few Fasting Pills into my pocket either.

After wrapping up all preparations like that, just as I stepped out of the cave...

’Surely a thief won’t break in, right?’

Entertaining odd imaginations for no reason, I walked toward the river.

It was after Grylls departed for the river to hunt.

Inside the cave, nothing could be heard except the splashing of the fish and the cute breathing sounds of the baby Owlbear.

Excluding those, the cave surroundings were tranquil and quiet. Occasional bird chirps were heard, but nothing worth minding.

Buseureok-

Just then, a rustling sound echoed through the dense trees.

At first, it seemed like simple wind, but it wasn’t.

Seueok-

Between the thick trees, an animal revealed its presence.

Long arms compared to short legs. At its fingertips, fierce claws extended long.

Covered in fur across its entire body, the animal advanced very slowly, truly slowly.

Treading the ground with two long arms like a gorilla, its destination was clear.

Cheompang! Cheompang!

It was the iron barrel containing the fish.

Though a painfully slow march, no one stood guard.

Even if it took time, it would reach the iron barrel eventually.

The animal moved leisurely, just like its relaxed face.

"What’s this?"

Had it not been for Grylls returning because he forgot his antidote.

Having reached right near the iron barrel, the animal turned its head upon hearing the voice.

Even the act of turning its head was excessively slow.

Facing an uninvited thief face-to-face, Grylls muttered softly under his breath.

"...A sloth?"