I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 356

Leaving behind the Orange Badge’s immensely dangerous comment, I listened carefully to Lackey’s request.

He was asking me to make gloves—or rather, a gauntlet—that would allow him to cast magic with ease.

Lackey was already wearing gloves made from Dragon shed skin.

Without needing to ask Passing Dwarf separately, all I had to do was plaster various minerals onto them.

"Didn’t you say earlier that you could easily cast martial arts aside?"

However, there was one thing I didn’t understand: Lackey’s sudden change of heart.

Before, he had claimed he could just abandon martial arts, but now he had suddenly changed his mind.

Not knowing what got into him, I asked, figuring I should hear him out first.

"That is true. But if I can catch two rabbits at once, why shouldn’t I?"

"That’s literally it?"

"Honestly, I think it will look awesome."

"Mhm."

Well, now that’s a human-like thought, not a gorilla-like one. It sounds dumb as hell, but it makes sense.

It seemed he couldn’t abandon the romance of the Fire Fist.

It was only because the user was a gorilla; objectively speaking, it was a pretty cool attack.

Furthermore, just as Lackey said, being able to wield both martial arts and magic simultaneously was killing two birds with one stone.

’Though he won’t be able to teleport or warp reality like that purple fatty.’

In the first place, that purple fatty had impressive combat power on his own.

A combat style using martial arts as a base while maximizing it with magic. It wasn’t a bad approach.

It would prove highly efficient in the ever-shifting Forest of the Four Seasons. The problem lay elsewhere.

’The question is whether this fellow Lackey can pull off that kind of utility.’

I learned something while surviving in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Learning a skill is great, but knowing how to use it properly is far more important.

A technique you can’t even use is basically a useless burden. Besides, there are countless types of magic.

Whether Lackey could cast magic on the fly at the exact right moment was the most crucial factor.

If he fumbled at a critical moment and botched it, our lives would be in jeopardy.

’Creating variables is key.’

One might ask why he couldn’t just handle firepower like a mage.

However, rather than having Lackey unleash uncontrollable magic with a national-level staff, it’s far more efficient for me to fire arrows.

As everyone knows, I’m the designated heavy hitter of this group. Even if it’s tricky to control.

Therefore, it was better for Lackey to lean toward utility and creating unpredictable variables.

"Lackey. If you want, I can make something similar for you. But on one condition."

"What condition?"

"Prove yourself by sparring with me."

"?"

At the mention of sparring with me, Lackey tilted his head, looking like he wondered why he had to do that.

The others—especially the experienced Ludwig and Cain—seemed to grasp my intention and watched quietly.

"I’m not trying to establish a hierarchy. I just want to check your actual skills."

"I find establishing hierarchies bothersome too. Master is simply the tree that produces food, after all."

"...Have you been treating me like that all this time?"

"Even wolves take the one who feeds them as their leader."

I couldn’t really deny it. Bbareumbo treated me similarly, after all.

Even if Bbareumbo ranked higher in raw hierarchy, I held overall decision-making authority.

In any society(?), the person tied directly to food usually assumes the role of pack leader.

"Anyway! As your master must have said, from ancient times, one must dig a single well to achieve true greatness. Combining magic is fine, but you might end up mastering neither."

"So you want to check if I can properly harmonize martial arts and magic."

"Right. Well, it’s something I needed to verify before crafting the gauntlet anyway."

If Lackey showed real promise in magic—specifically practical combat magic?

Then I intended to leave Lackey behind at the Shelter for a while and go exploring.

’Though experience is what matters most.’

For now, it seemed best to craft the gauntlet Lackey wanted.

The base glove was already crafted from Dragon shed skin. As Lackey said, layering over it would suffice.

[Wild Grylls: So tell me how to do it.]

[Passing Dwarf: You know that’s a fucking hard job, right? You have to consider everything from hand size down to every single joint.]

[Wild Grylls: Still got to do it. It boosts our battle strength.]

[Passing Dwarf: Can’t you just be satisfied with dragon skin?;;]

[Wild Grylls: A fucking awesome mage is being born in our team! He’ll be shooting fire from his fists and shit.]

[Passing Dwarf: Hm. I gotta admit I’m curious, lol.]

I secured the Dwarf’s cooperation. Naturally, I didn’t forget to give him gifts.

However, the Dwarf said that while he could draw up the ’blueprints’, preparing the materials and crafting were entirely up to me.

Meaning the Dwarf would only help roughly with the prep work, while I had to execute all the actual crafting steps.

[Passing Dwarf: What style are you going to make it in? Like the ones knights wear?]

[Wild Grylls: That’d probably be best, but can’t I just make a whole single-piece gauntlet?]

[Passing Dwarf: Try bending your palm, not your fingers. It’ll take weeks of crafting, not days.]

I bent my palm as the Dwarf instructed. Even palms have creasing points.

It was the same when forming a fist. Clenching it tightly was essential to maximize punch power.

’In games and movies, they craft solid single-piece gauntlets and beat everyone up.’

Still, it wasn’t impossible. It was just that the process was extremely difficult.

If I had the time to work meticulously, it would be fine, but the difficulty level was sky-high.

In my heart, I wanted to craft it to look awesome, but my limited skill set clearly posed a bottleneck.

After pondering for a moment, I asked Lackey what exact style he had in mind.

"Hey. Lackey. Which style do you prefer? Detailed piecework is hard, but covering the entire hand..."

"Covering the entire hand."You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.

"Hear me out first. If it covers your whole hand, even making a fist will be tough for you."

Making a fist itself was possible. It was just squeezing it tight that would be hard.

However, that would be a significant penalty for Lackey, who used martial arts—specifically hand-to-hand combat.

"Master. My hands are different from Master’s. And Master—er, my Master—also said that my brother and I have hand structures better suited for Palm Strikes."

"Palm Strikes? Ah, open-palm strikes?"

"That is correct."

"If that’s the case, I understand."

Come to think of it, this fellow Lackey’s main attack was open palms, not closed fists.

The other Blood Cult remnants were similar. Even in the video where Heavenly Demon fought before, she mostly used open palms.

"And I will only wear it on my left hand. This is both a glove and a staff."

"Why not wear one on your right hand?"

"Must I not keep a part free to seamlessly execute martial arts?"

"Man. Alright, fine."

Just how far did this guy’s imagination stretch? I was a bit curious.

Still, purely in terms of efficiency, it wasn’t a bad choice.

"Give me your hand for a sec so I can draft the blueprint."

"Understood."

Along with taking photos, I meticulously measured Lackey’s finger lengths.

Since joints had to be factored in, precise calculations were essential.

Soon, I measured Lackey’s massive hand dimensions accurately and passed them off to the Dwarf.

[Passing Dwarf: Like I said earlier, I’m only drawing the rough sketch. Crafting the parts and assembling them is up to you.]

[Wild Grylls: OK]

[Passing Dwarf: Then I’ll draw it so it covers the palm too?]

[Wild Grylls: Yup]

The Dwarf left after saying it would take about a day. I handed him a bottle of Empty Sky Stone Milk.

He was skilled, but because he drank way too much alcohol, I was quite worried.

Indeed, wasn’t liver disease by far the number one cause of death among Dwarves?

Even the current Dwarves were absolute powerhouses who survived drinking alcohol like water.

Seeing that even such powerhouses died of liver disease showed just how terrifyingly immense the Dwarves’ love for booze was.

’That wraps up the groundwork, so what’s left is...’

I stared blankly at Lackey. Lackey stared blankly back at me.

As if he understood roughly what was coming, he nodded and stretched lazily.

"Lackey."

"Speak."

"Shall we eat first?"

"I was just about to go chop firewood anyway."

Sparring was important, but eating took priority.

After filling our stomachs nicely, I faced Lackey once again.

Though called a spar, it was really just checking this guy’s magic proficiency.

Now that his sight was fully restored, there was no need to test his martial arts separately.

"Like I said earlier, you have to use magic together with it, got it? If you only use martial arts, I’m stopping immediately."

"Understood."

"Then Ludwig-ssi, please act as the referee."

Ludwig nodded and stepped between the two of us. I looked at Lackey.

The first time we crossed hands, we fought for our lives, so this spar was practically our first.

There hadn’t been a reason to spar before, and Lackey had grown mellower as time went on anyway.

I had also focused purely on personal ability—that is, expanding my overall weight class—rather than sparring.

Having trained in External Arts recently, I felt my body become significantly tougher. This opportunity would let me test it out.

"Begin."

Woooong!

As soon as Ludwig spoke, I immediately activated my Body-Protecting Gangqi.

Lackey took one look at me doing that and pulled an utterly dumbfounded expression.

"Isn’t Body-Protecting Gangqi foul play...?"

"If you break through it with magic, I’ll give you credit."

Lackey’s disbelief was short-lived; as soon as I charged, he turned dead serious.

The Forest of the Four Seasons was crawling with creatures that far surpassed my weight class.

He had to at least pierce my Body-Protecting Gangqi or inflict meaningful damage, after all.

I swung the Sword of the Heavenly Demon hard without infusing any Aura into it.

Or rather, I tried to swing it.

"@$%#!"

Until Lackey placed both hands on the ground and shouted something.

Since it was gibberish I couldn’t understand, I presumed it was Central Plains speech.

Slip!

"Huh?"

It wasn’t an offensive spell. But the spell’s effect was completely outside my expectations.

Even though it was rough dirt ground, I slipped as if treading on ice.

Since I slipped right as I was mid-swing, it was hard to even break my fall properly.

Thump!

"Kuh!"

Still, I snapped my head up as much as possible to avoid falling headfirst.

Thanks to that, my head was safe, but my rear—specifically my pubic bone—took a decent impact.

"Hmph!"

Lackey threw a Palm Strike at me while I was down. Aimed straight at my face.Read the latest chapters at novelрing.com.

No matter how well wrapped I was in Body-Protecting Gangqi, Lackey’s martial arts were by no means something to underestimate.

Like the Gorilla Chief, he could bypass the shield and strike internally.

Kboom!

I barely avoided Lackey’s attack by rolling my body, then immediately scrambled to my feet.

While I was getting up, Lackey moved his fingers fluidly and chanted something.

"#$%!"

Rumble!

The moment I stood up, the dirt ground surged up and tightly bound both my ankles.

Unexpected situations kept happening back-to-back, leaving me flustered. Was this guy Lackey really this good at casting magic?

My fluster was brief, however, as Lackey charged right at me with a face ready to finish the match at any second.

Sliiiiip!

"Keuh!"

Except this idiot slipped himself. It seemed the spell he used earlier to make the ground slick was still active.

Not letting the opportunity pass, I hurriedly put distance between myself and Lackey, then waited for him to get up.

"Ugh..."

"Why are you falling for the magic you cast yourself?"

"I thought I would be unaffected."

"..."

Seeing that made me realize once again that wisdom and knowledge are entirely separate things. My energy suddenly drained right out of me.

Still, since I could roughly evaluate Lackey’s magical capability, I decided to take it seriously.

"#$%!"

Surprisingly, Lackey’s magic was focused more on ’status ailments’ than direct ’attacks’.

For example, slowing me down, or bursting a sudden light to create a flashbang.

"@$%%!"

What surprised me most among them was his incantation speed. Whether his calculation ability was blazingly fast or what, he cast spells in almost a single second.

Of course, considering they were simple spells, but impressive was impressive. I couldn’t even cast magic, after all.

"Flame Fist!"

Fwhoosh!

Still, it seemed he hadn’t given up that damn Flame Fist. What’s more, it was surprisingly potent.

I barely dodged the flying fireball and watched the aftermath. And sure enough—

"Hey! Stop using fire magic! That tree over there caught fire again!"

"W-Water!"

"You spray the water!"

Another tree caught fire, bringing our spar to an abrupt, fizzled-out end.

Fortunately, perhaps because Lackey already had a prior record (?), he put it right out using water magic.

"Still, not bad. Seeing you create variables through utility rather than raw attacks."

"Will you grant me permission now?"

"Can’t you cast higher-tier magic than that?"

"If I look at a grimoire and copy it, I can cast it."

"Hmm..."

As I pondered, a brilliant idea suddenly struck me.

The crystal orb gifted by Princess Chaenggu and King Reor. That orb contained ’magic’.

If magic was stored inside Orichalcum, wouldn’t it be easy to trigger higher-tier magic as well?

’It’s a simple idea, but...’

It wasn’t complete nonsense. The fact that magic could be ’stored’ in the first place was a noteworthy point.

So we took a short break. I handed Lackey a sweet potato as a reward for his hard work.

’I should ask around. Since there are plenty of people well-versed in magic, I’ll write a post first. Before that...’

Let’s see what made it to the Recommended Posts. I casually logged into Recommended Posts.

As expected, a ton of Recommended Posts had popped up while we were sparring.

Among them, one particularly caught my eye...

Title) Looks like it’s about to bloom at last

[Heavenly Demon]

(Photo of a flowerpot about to bloom)

The plant this mistress meticulously cultivated is finally preparing to bear flowers.

How joyful and rewarding a matter this is.

└ Sure raised that weed with a lot of care, lol.

└ Heavenly Demon) What did you just say? Weed? How dare you call this beautiful flower a weed?

└ Look at her having a trigger episode again lmao

└ Every time someone calls Heavenly Demon’s plant a weed, this motherfucker throws a fit lmao

It was Heavenly Demon’s post. A sight of her meticulously caring for the plant I gave her earlier.

’It makes me feel good just looking at it.’

Arrogant though her disposition might be, at times like this she was genuinely pure.

Besides, whenever her trigger button was pushed and she failed to maintain her lofty front, it was truly human of her.

’I should leave an encouraging comment telling her to keep up the good work.’

Meanwhile, around that same time—

"Say that again."

"T-That is..."

Yoo So-wol was expressing a rare fury.

"What did you just call the plant this mistress is raising? A weed?"

Someone had just pressed her trigger button in real life.