I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 385

I felt like crying. That was my exact feeling as I looked at the now-desolate Shelter.

The mechanical mothership had torn apart the house I worked so hard to build, and the other food storage facilities suffered the same fate.

Thank goodness I had decentralized the food supplies; if I had kept them in one place like before, it would have been an absolute disaster.

’I can just use the place where the hobgoblins used to stay for a house, so...’

I let out a sigh, relieved that things weren’t completely hopeless.

At least the most critical items, the Inner Core and the Gastrolith, were intact. If those had been taken too, I really would have broken down in tears.

The food supply wasn’t dangerously low either.

’Thankfully, the jammer is still fine too.’

The jammer stuck into the ground was still functioning perfectly.

Although it hadn’t stopped the mothership from detecting us, I still planned to make good use of it in the future.

Besides, Princess Chaenggu hadn’t given me this item—she had lent it to me. That distinction needed to be made crystal clear.

Since it was military-grade gear, losing it might get Princess Chaenggu into serious trouble.

’I’m just glad the mothership didn’t care about it. By the way...’

What on earth was the mothership’s objective? What kind of construct just indiscriminately snatches up living beings?

Considering it tore away innocent food storages, I guessed it was replenishing its energy. Of course, that was just speculation.

What’s more, its purpose seemed closer to reconnaissance than combat, adding to the mountain of riddles.

’Since it’s called a mothership, does that mean it commands subordinate vessels...?’

Another term for a mothership is a mother vessel, with the prime example being an aircraft carrier.

Just as an aircraft carrier houses numerous fighter jets, that mothership likely carried something similar.

You might ask if the fish drones counted, but those were different.

While some fish drones had combat capabilities mixed in, they felt much more tailored toward exploration.

’If they were truly meant for combat, they would’ve fired guns or something.’

A blessing in disguise, really. If other ships had joined, it would’ve been a nightmare.

Since I couldn’t predict when that mothership might return, extreme caution was necessary.

They said it comes roughly every quarter, but after that battle, its calculations might have changed.

It might resolve to lead an entire flagship fleet and launch a full-scale assault next time. If that happened, I’d be in real danger.

’...Should I relocate the base?’

The thought crossed my mind, but I shook my head violently.

There was no place as good as this, and moving elsewhere would just be splitting hairs.

The mothership was not only massive, but it could also teleport. I’d be discovered in no time anyway.

"Hey, Lackey. You said Wi Ho-chang repelled that thing before, right?"

"Correct."

"How did he drive it off? Did he deal direct damage like me?"

"With a single straight punch, he ripped off its side."

"Hmm?"

Hearing Lackey’s response sealed my decision to stay. Wi Ho-chang had a track record of dealing even greater damage than I did.

Lackey had witnessed it with his own two eyes, and considering Wi Ho-chang’s martial prowess, it wasn’t impossible.

If the exact same event had occurred before, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of it returning.

However, it wouldn’t be anytime soon.

’That means I have to make thorough preparations until then.’

Even if it didn’t return immediately, preparing for super-large entities like that was essential.

Stationing siege engines was a viable option, but there was a far better method.

’Becoming as strong as a siege engine myself.’

Operating siege weapons required considerable skill and practice.

Investing that time into training instead was much smarter. For that, I only needed to keep one thing in mind:

’More mana. More aura.’

I couldn’t project Sword Qi as a flying slash. Instead, I could extend Sword Qi outward to strike.

Condensing aura tightly onto a blade was hard, but recklessly inflating its scale was well within my capability.

I simply hadn’t done it because it was the pinnacle of inefficiency. But that single clash just now made me realize something:

’Against a bastard with an insanely huge size class, efficiency means jack shit.’

If anything, stubbornly trying to condense power might be the real inefficiency.

The rest of our party, except for Lackey, lacked proper long-range containment measures.

And since Lackey became defenseless while performing calculations, I was the only one capable of immediate response.

"Ahjussi. Is projecting Sword Qi that difficult?"

"It is not difficult. However, it is not particularly efficient. Once mastered, it becomes useful, but the process of learning it is quite complex."

"Then who threw that Sword Qi earlier?"

"...."

At my question, Ludwig stared intently at me.

To be precise, he was staring at Bbareumbo, who had naturally climbed onto my back.

Realizing the meaning of his gaze, I asked with a shocked expression.

"This guy launched it? That Sword Qi?"This chapter was copied from novеlping.com without permission.

"Indeed. It was perfectly clean and without a waste of movement."

"...."

I glanced back at Bbareumbo. At some point, this creature had also learned to manipulate mana.

Even though it hadn’t been long, his progress was far ahead of mine.

’I mean, he was already strong to begin with, so it’s not totally unbelievable, but...’

Being weaker than Bbareumbo was something I could swallow and move past.

But for his technical talent to be so vastly superior to mine... how should I put it?

"Master."

"What."

"The one most like a beast here is Master. Your energy accumulation efficiency is remarkably high."

"Shut up."

I immediately told Lackey to shut up in response to his cold fact, but a fact was a fact.

I couldn’t ignore it.

After all, energy storage is one of humanity’s defining characteristics, isn’t it?

Humanity’s superior adaptability compared to other animals is thanks to extreme energy storage efficiency.

This ability likely evolved further, allowing humans to harbor mana within their bodies.

In my case, that specific trait was absurdly overdeveloped. That was definitely a good thing.

’I need to cram as much mana into my body as possible.’

But even someone like me would hit a limit eventually. In the end, I had to resort to extraordinary measures.

The Gastrolith I received from Vanir. Using this Gastrolith would drastically expand my capacity(?).

The plan was to gather as much mana as I could first, and when I reached my wall, ingest the Gastrolith.

’She said holding the Gastrolith in my mouth works too.’

I looked down at the Gastrolith, which was about the size of a small marble.

Vanir had mentioned it before. If I was scared of swallowing it, just holding it in my mouth would suffice.

It seemed about time to begin this process. Of course, after finishing all the urgent chores.

"Lackey, go over to the hobgoblins’ place and bring back a few workers. We need to rebuild what collapsed."

"Understood."

"Ludwig-ahjussi and Cain-ssi, let’s start the ground prep with me."

Rebuilding the destroyed house and food storage was top priority.

As usual, I bought a massive pile of bricks from the Gallery. If bricks didn’t exist, it would’ve been a total nightmare.

Naturally, I didn’t just get bricks; I also bought cement from the dwarf.

[Passing Dwarf: Hey, beaver whose house got blown away. Take this.]

[Wild Grylls: Holy shit lol]

I chuckled dryly at the dwarf teasing me as a beaver.

To be fair, my house had been destroyed a ridiculous number of times. It reminded me of an old video.

A beaver watching a zookeeper dismantle the lodge it had painstakingly built.

The keeper had a reason, of course—if the lodge was finished, the beaver would stop being active.

’Fuck, but can’t someone just leave me alone for once?’

Grumbling inwardly, I began laying down the foundation.

One thing I gave up on after this incident was building something super durable.

Since another mothership-level situation could happen again, simple was best.

Building it sturdy would only result in it collapsing again anyway. It brought tears to my eyes, but it was unavoidable.

"Master. We have returned."

"You’re back? Nothing bad happened at your village, right?"

When Lackey translated my words, one of the hobgoblins replied.

According to Lackey’s translation, the flying fish were annoying, but they suffered no direct damage.

Furthermore, because the mothership’s attention had been focused here, they had merely watched from afar.

"Urakak! Baruka nakuna!"

"He says seeing Master pierce through that gigantic entity and soar into the air was truly awesome."

"Ahem, ahem. You’re embarrassing me."

"Lukane banuka. Hakyeoa bajunaku."

While I was feeling bashful, Lackey pointed at me and spoke to them.

Naturally, I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but something felt off.

The pointing, the facial expression—it had a subtly teasing vibe.

"Cain-ssi. What is that guy saying?"

[He is telling them that you are the weirdest creature living here, so they should never copy you.]

"...."

I was speechless and could only laugh dryly. Should I confiscate his sweet potatoes?

Anyway, with excellent workers having arrived, I slowly built up the ruined foundation.

Perhaps because they had accumulated know-how over time, construction went faster than expected.

’Building it simply really lets you whip it up in a flash.’This chapter was taken from novel​ping.com without permission.

After lunch was over, we managed to finish constructing everything before evening.

The same went for the food storage. Segmenting the structures definitely minimized the risk.

"Alright! All done. Who’s hungry?"

"Oo! Oo!"

"Oo! Oo!"

As dinnertime approached, I served a meal to the hard-working hobgoblins.

The remaining food warehouse happened to be the one storing wild boar meat.

Since there was plenty of butchered meat, everyone could eat their fill.

’I’ll have to head out to scout again tomorrow. Do some hunting while I’m at it.’

I needed to deliver information to Alex and return the books I had finished reading.

But before that, I had to verify what needed verifying. I asked one of the hobgoblins.

"Ah, right. You guys said you knew the gorillas’ territory too, right?"

"Krowa?"

Namely, the current state of the gorillas. I was curious about their situation.

No news is good news, as they say, but it had been radio silence for far too long.

They had comfortably ignored the warning letter I gave them earlier, making their domain practically hostile territory.

Since remnants of the Blood Cult had entered that place, there was no telling what scheme they were plotting.

"Tomorrow, I’ll give you an item suited for stealth. Use it to scout out what the gorillas are up to."

At my words, the hobgoblins whispered among themselves before nodding readily.

This way, I’d be able to find out what the gorillas were doing and what the Blood Cult remnants were scheming.

Still, I cautioned them to be especially wary of the alpha gorilla. That guy was genuinely dangerous.

Time passed like that, and pitch-black night descended. But nightfall didn’t mean my tasks were done.

’Where should I use this?’

I was referring to the severed mechanical arm segment. It was shaped like a crane claw, perfect for gripping things.

The mothership regenerated immediately after its mechanical arm was severed, but the cut-off chunk remained as it was.

What material was it made of that allowed a machine to self-repair? I was a bit curious.

’Come to think of it, the Mithril buried in the backyard regenerated too, didn’t it?’

I wondered if it shared a similar principle. I tapped the mechanical arm lightly.

Should I melt it down to craft something new, or toss it to the dwarf to make good use of it?

There was plenty of material, so giving away one piece seemed fine.

"Huh?"

Right as I logged into the Gallery, a message arrived.

And not just one, but multiple messages. The names of familiar fixed handles caught my eye.

’What’s going on?’

Did something break out? I opened the message sent by Praise the Sun first.

I planned to check what this person sent first.

[Praise the Sun: My friend. Did you happen to touch something?]

[Praise the Sun: (Video of a flying mothership)]

[Praise the Sun: This thing popped out out of nowhere, and it looks a bit similar to the one you fought.]

Surprisingly, what Praise the Sun showed me was a vessel flying in the sky.

It wasn’t gargantuan like the mothership, but it was still more than intimidating enough.

Before replying to Praise the Sun, I checked messages from other handles.

[Starlight Lady: Um... Grylls-nim? Did you happen to mess with something?]

[Starlight Lady: (Video of a flying mothership)]

[Starlight Lady: They say those motherships are appearing all over the world right now.]

[Starlight Lady: Did that giant Kraken you posted about earlier awaken these ships?]

Starlight Lady had sent a similar text, and...

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Um... Grylls-nim...!]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: (Video of a mothership flying in midair)]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: What on earth did you do THIS time...?!]

The Hero, Asella, also sent a message in the same vein.

Unlike the others, Asella seemed completely convinced that it was my doing.

’...What is going on?’

Belatedly, I accessed the Recommended Posts on the Gallery. And then...

[How many Ghost Ships have been discovered so far?]

[Fuck, weird stuff won’t come pouring out of those, right?]

[Upvote if you think trying to shoot that down will get us fucked lololol]

[It’s awkward even to evacuate. What do we do about that?]

Floating motherships were making appearances one after another all across the world.