I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 37

Currently, Sword Matstar, Ash, was what people called a jobless bum who got back-slapped by her mother every single day.

A NEET who spent endless hours browsing the Gallery, giggling whenever something entertaining happened.

But she was someone who had undeniably experienced ’real-world corporate and social life.’

And not just ordinary social life, but life in the political arena where all sorts of conspiracies and schemes were daily routine.

From time immemorial, politics had evolved gradually to keep formidable power in check.

In particular, Ash had been nothing more than a commoner before being granted a title of nobility by the Emperor.

Until then, she had to read the nobles’ moods, flatter them, and nod along with whatever they said.

She had worked hard at navigating social dynamics so that she wouldn’t run into political trouble.

In truth, marriage would have been the easiest way out, but because Ash was far too strong, every potential match fell through.

Furthermore, after becoming the Commander of the Imperial Guard, there was no longer any room for political trouble for her.

At any rate, Ash was a veteran of social life—and dark, muddy politics at that.

That was why she felt a sense of alarm in her own way regarding Heavenly Demon’s elevation to Blue Badge.

’She definitely made a deal. Otherwise, there’s no way this old boomer would have gotten the Blue Badge. Same goes for Orange Badge.’

The moment Ash heard that Heavenly Demon became a Blue Badge, her mind began spinning.

Unlike a certain someone, she was a veteran of the real world.

She grasped the situation faster than anyone else.

’What kind of trade did she make?’

Ash was a long-time regular of the Gallery. Going strictly by seniority, she had been around for nearly ten years.

Unlike the previous Orange Badge, the current Orange Badge was someone who placed great importance on rules and principles.

Moreover, overflowing with a self-sacrificing mindset, she would never force the Blue Badge onto someone.

For such a person to appoint a Blue Badge—and to a high-profile fixed handle at that—meant there was something behind it.

’Heavenly Demon probably proposed a deal first...’

In truth, Heavenly Demon becoming a Blue Badge wasn’t a huge problem for Ash.

If Heavenly Demon wielded authority as she pleased?

Her armbands would be stripped immediately and she’d get banned for a few weeks.

Heavenly Demon knew this too, which was why she outwardly appeared to be working hard.

However, Ash strove to read the intent concealed beneath the surface.

Why did Heavenly Demon take the Blue Badge at this exact point in time?

’It’s way too coincidental.’

Ash had clashed quite a bit with Heavenly Demon recently.

Bickering back and forth over whether the Mana Cultivation Method was better or the Internal Cultivation Art was superior.

But since it was closer to Ash picking a fight unilaterally, Grylls had taken Heavenly Demon’s side.

Ash also recognized her own unsightly behavior, so she only offered advice without meddling further.

’Still, it’s such a waste...’

That didn’t mean she intended to give up so easily.

Because it was far too much of a waste. It had been a long time since she saw a talent with such promising roots.

Ash had once trained numerous disciples.

Setting aside the truly impure motivation that she did it to find husband material...

Regardless, she could pride herself on having an outstanding eye for people.

Those disciples had ended up falling for other women and getting married, but Grylls was different.

As mentioned before, his life might be in peril, but there was no risk of him getting distracted by other women.

’Even the kids I trained weren’t at this level. I have to teach him no matter what.’

Every time she looked at Grylls, she felt like she was looking at her past self.

A constitution where mana stacked up steadily just by breathing.

Due to his special environment, Grylls accumulated mana just by breathing.

Mana circulating through the entire body was normally something only possible for an Intermediate Sword Expert.

’That said, I really don’t want to become a Blue Badge.’

She adamantly wanted to decline becoming a Blue Badge herself.

Just because it was a Gallery didn’t mean there was no politics.

In fact, ’petty political maneuvering’ far worse than actual politics was rampant.

The difference was that internet politics consisted of instigation, fabrication, trolling, and ultimately infighting.

Especially for a Blue Badge, it was much easier to attract unwanted attention compared to other fixed handles.

Just look at Heavenly Demon. The moment she became a Blue Badge, she came under various attacks.

That it brushed off smoothly was thanks to her uniquely self-righteous personality.

Besides, mental strength wasn’t an issue for Ash. She just hated it. Ash simply hated being a Blue Badge!

’Whatever the case, I ended up as a latecomer.’

In the end, Ash had no choice but to chuckle softly.

Heavenly Demon had delivered a proper checkmate. Who would have guessed she would actually become a Blue Badge?

But she couldn’t suppress her curiosity. What got into Orange Badge to put Heavenly Demon in that position?

’Let’s look into it.’

Connecting with Orange Badge was extremely simple. Just send a trade request and that was it.

[Wild Grylls: Trade requests were only available to fixed handles anyway, so Orange Badge usually accepted them.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Hello!]

What brings you here!

The moment she accepted the request, Orange Badge responded cheerfully.

Ash smiled at Orange Badge, who never lost her energetic vibe, and spoke.

[Wild Grylls: Orange Badge-nim. You made a deal with Heavenly Demon-nim, didn’t you?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Huh?!]

Unlike her smile, there was no hesitation behind her question.

Orange Badge must have been thoroughly flustered to send such a weird reply.

The Orange Badge that Ash knew was incapable of lying.

It was the same even on the Gallery where anonymity was the default.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: How did you know?!]

Did Blue Badge-nim tell you!

No.

I just had a hunch and probed, and you confessed.Read the latest chapters at nove‌lping.com.

So what deal did you make?

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: She asked to enable 1-on-1 private messaging!]

Aha.

So that was it. What a greedy person.

Ash nodded at Orange Badge’s painfully honest answer.

Thanks to that, she was able to figure out the whole story. As expected, Heavenly Demon took the Blue Badge for Grylls’ sake.

’Wait, couldn’t she just write secret posts? That’s such a one-dimensional line of thinking.’

However, there was still an unresolved question.

What on earth were secret posts meant for then? She was curious about the reason.

[Wild Grylls: Aren’t 1-on-1 private messages exposed to you as Orange Badge-nim as well?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Yes! I’m watching right now!]

[Wild Grylls: What are they talking about? Internal Cultivation Art?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I can’t give details, but I can answer with YES!]

That much was within predictable bounds. Still, she couldn’t understand it.

Compared to the duties a Blue Badge had to bear, the return was ridiculously small.

Was Heavenly Demon someone who would wield power recklessly? Not at all.

Heavenly Demon was someone who only said what she wanted to say. She wasn’t shaken by others’ words.

Rather, resembling Orange Badge in some ways, she wasn’t the type to commit tyranny just because she disliked something.

On top of that, Orange Badge was above her. The conditions didn’t add up.

’Suspicious. Way too suspicious. What is her actual goal?’

Ash’s thoughts lingered. It was hard to grasp Heavenly Demon’s true intentions.

Still, it wasn’t entirely without fruit. She nodded and thanked Orange Badge.

Thank you.

[Wild Grylls: Orange Badge-nim. Is there anything you want by any chance?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I don’t need bribes!]

If you want to become a Blue Badge, you can just say so!

No. I’m fine without a Blue Badge.

I didn’t initiate a trade because I wanted that.

[Wild Grylls: I was just curious why that person was acting like that.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I see! Got it!]

The conversation ended there. Ash slowly organized her thoughts.

’Doesn’t seem like there are any political intentions.’

Given Heavenly Demon’s personality, she definitely wouldn’t have political motives.

Taking the Blue Badge was likely to smoothly help Grylls while quietly pursuing another motive on the side.

She didn’t know what that motive was, but at least it wouldn’t be harmful to her.

’Was I worrying over nothing?’

Heavenly Demon becoming a Blue Badge was a massive topic in itself.

Especially since Ash had even engaged in a war of nerves with Heavenly Demon.

She couldn’t help but care about it.

’Tricky. So tricky.’

Maybe she was overthinking it too much.

Since she hadn’t given up on the option of helping Grylls.

Whenever he ran into trouble, she could just quietly assist him.

’The Internal Cultivation Art has plenty of terms that are hard to understand unless you’re from the Central Plains. He’ll definitely post saying it’s too difficult.’

That would be the moment to swoop in and teach him the know-how of the Mana Cultivation Method.

Since the Mana Cultivation Method specialized in nurturing energy, it had plenty of great pro-tips.

She aimed for that timing. Ash focused on the Gallery.

Refreshing once every ten seconds, she waited for Grylls’ post to pop up.

Internal Cultivation Art is way too hard.

’It’s here!’

Before long, Grylls uploaded a post.

And it was one completely after Ash’s heart.

A post venting about how hard the Internal Cultivation Art was. She clicked on the post immediately.

Title) Internal Cultivation Art is way too hard.

Wild Grylls

Learning the Mental Cultivation Method from Heavenly Demon-nim, but there are so many unknown terms that it’s super hard.

They say it’s the basics of the Internal Cultivation Art, but if even the basics are like this, I’m terrified of what advanced stuff will be like;;

L Heavenly Demon taught you? How? She didn’t even post anything.

L Wild Grylls) She requested a 1-on-1 private chat?

L Blue Badges can do that too? Did Orange Badge allow it?

L Wild Grylls) Yeah, said it was allowed. Said it didn’t matter if people knew.

L Woah;; Look at that special treatment. I’m already getting salty here.

L Real lol, makes me wanna troll

L Don’t Abandon the Hero: If you want, I can appoint you as Assistant Manager!

L That threat doesn’t work anymore lol. Realized anon IPs can’t be managers

L Anons can’t be made managers anyway lol

L Don’t Abandon the Hero: Then I’ll visit you in person to threaten you!

L Sorrysorrysorrysorry

L Holy shit, it’s actually terrifying when Orange Badge does that kakaka

L Reminds me of that Orange Badge who used to stalk people back in the day lol

L Clank clank?

"...."

Ash couldn’t hide her sense of hollow disbelief looking at the post.Get faster updates on novelрing.com.

While someone was making trades with Orange Badge just to figure it out, the person involved had coolly blurted it all out.

Everything she had done so far felt like wasted effort. But then again, it was just like Heavenly Demon.

’...I’ll just pass on some tips.’

Still, what needed to be done had to be done. Ash pulled herself together.

She then began writing comments to bestow various pro-tips.

L Sword Matstar) Which part is difficult?

L Wild Grylls) It’s hard to get the pathway down. Heavenly Demon-nim even showed me drawings to explain it, but maybe because I’m a numbskull, it’s really tough.

L Sword Matstar) I see what you mean. I can help you.

L Wild Grylls) Thank you.

Ash smiled at the polite expression of gratitude.

Unlike the Internal Cultivation Art, the Mana Cultivation Method was a breathing technique specialized in gathering and nurturing mana.

It would be perfect for learning the foundational aspects in detail.

’Wait, how come Heavenly Demon isn’t chiming in to object?’

Normally, she should have picked a fight by now.

Yet Heavenly Demon was nowhere to be seen.

What on earth was she scheming? Ash posted her comment despite her suspicion.

L Sword Matstar) The Mana Cultivation Method and the Internal Cultivation Art might have different branches, but their roots are the same. Start with your breathing first.

L Wild Grylls) I am.

L Sword Matstar) In that state, send the energy in your lower abdomen down to your perineum. You know where the perineum is, right?

L Wild Grylls) Roughly?

L Sword Matstar) You shouldn’t just roughly know. Since you are a man, Grylls-nim, think of it as the spot between your testicles and your asshole. If you direct your energy there, you’ll feel something.

L Wild Grylls) Um... yeah. I feel it. It tickles, can I scratch it a bit?

"...."

Strangely frustrating. Ash knitted her delicate brows.

It wasn’t frustration from Grylls failing to understand.

Nor was it from cramming characters into this tiny comment section...

L Tell us too~

L Playing dirty, keeping all the pro-tips to yourselves?

L Sword Matstar-nim, I hit a bottleneck in my realm recently, can you help me?

L Unlock secret posts unlock secret posts unlock secret posts

Jackals swarming in at the sweet scent of honey. They were disrupting her focus.

Because they invaded Grylls’ comment section all over, it became a bit difficult to instruct him.

’Wait, don’t tell me Heavenly Demon did it because of this?’

A reasonable suspicion gradually swelled within her.

Meanwhile, at the Demonic Cult.

’I can sense the frustration.’

Yoo So-wol smiled as she looked at Sword Matstar’s comments left on the secret thread.

The moment one put on the armband, even secret posts could be peeked into. This was a natural authority.

Hence, Yoo So-wol was also able to view the pro-tips Sword Matstar was passing down.

’To call it advice, it is far too superficial.’

The tips Sword Matstar offered could hardly even be called tips.

Because they were no different from the things Yoo So-wol had already taught him.

This occurred because Sword Matstar, Ash’s talent, was far too extraordinary.

Unlike her swordsmanship which started from the absolute bottom, her body naturally accumulated mana just by breathing.

Swordsmanship aside, she had zero knack for teaching breathing techniques.

’Is it working simply because the benefactor’s potential is so exceptional?’

But as they say, geniuses have a way of communicating among themselves.

Grylls was nibbling away and absorbing the pro-tips from Sword Matstar’s perspective.

It was a method even Yoo So-wol belittled, but Grylls digested it greedily.

’Sword Matstar. Indeed, this person is no ordinary figure either.’

Even so, it did not matter. Yoo So-wol shifted her gaze.

Where her gaze shifted, the message window she had exchanged with Grylls until just now floated.

Unlike trades, 1-on-1 private chat allowed real-time conversation.

The log of the conversation remained intact, so it could be viewed anytime.

’For a tree to bear fruit, its roots must be sturdy.’

What Yoo So-wol wanted was simple.

For Grylls to fully comprehend the insights of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and bear fruit.

The weak roots were planned to be resolved through Sword Matstar’s advice.

’In the end, humans naturally fixate on the sweet fruit rather than the root.’

Even if Grylls received advice, the core foundation remained the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. That fact would not change.

Ultimately, he would realize the greatness of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, and respect would naturally well up within him.

Sword Matstar was nothing more than an assistant. The one bestowing everything was ultimately Heavenly Demon, Yoo So-wol.

’It is only proper duty to perform for a benefactor.’

Now it was time to fulfill her duties as a Blue Badge. Yoo So-wol shifted her eyes back to the message board.

But up until this moment, she had no idea.

L Wild Grylls) Oh? This actually works? Light is emitting from the sword!

L Sword Matstar) Woah. Holy shit. Really? How did you do that?

L Wild Grylls) How are you asking me that?;;

L Sword Matstar) You doing everything I just described in words is way crazier though?;;

That when the root changes, the stem naturally transforms bit by bit as well.

Especially the fact that Sword Matstar possessed far greater expertise in ’swordsmanship’ itself than in breathing techniques.

L Sword Matstar) With a bit more practice, you won’t even need a shield—you could just carry a sword. But seriously, how did you do it?

L Wild Grylls) I’m telling you, I don’t know either;;

Bit by bit, it was seeping in.