I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 410

I cracked a satisfied grin at the explosive response to the post I uploaded to the Gallery.

After fastening Mythricon daggers onto the backs of both my hands, I manifested Aura Blades through them.

Naturally, big, beautiful Aura Blades surged forth from both of my hands, glowing like literal lightsabers.

The sheer existence of a lightsaber was thrilling enough, but having them sprout from both hands like a unit from a video game was peak awesome.

’Though its practicality is low.’

Aside from being able to use my Aura Blade easily, the balance was terrible.

Had I not possessed a shield, I would have nearly died several times over. I intended to use this stance only when charging in without giving a damn about what lay behind.

It was only because my Body-Protecting Gangqi had been enhanced that I could even consider it.

"Master. Do it for me too."

"Only I can do this."

"Stingy."

"So what if I am?"

But the cool factor was undeniable. Enough to make Lackey jealous.

Even Bbareumbo, who was indifferent to everything, displayed a sliver of interest.

Of course, this was an act and a game exclusive to me. Something others couldn’t easily pull off.

[Contrary to claiming you want to escape as soon as possible, you seem to be having quite a blast. Why not just settle down and build a proper home while you’re at it?]

"Quiet down, Dragoon."

[Dragoon? What does that mean?]

"A dragon knight."

[If you mean a dragon knight, that’s not technically wrong... but it feels like there’s a deeper reason.]

Cain asked with a suspicious vibe. Even though he was a stone statue, the ambiance alone gave it away.

Yet considering the lore of that unit, there was no metaphor more apt than this.

"I’m definitely not lying, it’s a case just like yours, Cain-ssi."

[A case like mine?]

"Yeah. A warrior who performed great deeds in life suffers severe injuries, but borrows a mechanical body so he can keep fighting."

[Are you saying there are others like me?]

Seeing how he didn’t really deny it, he seemed to have cheered up. I almost burst out laughing.

Jokes aside, though, cases like Cain’s wouldn’t be completely non-existent.

Just like Cain, revered as the first paladin, countless heroes shared their legacies in the Holy Kingdom’s history.

Take the previous Hero, who dragged the Immortal King down to death with him after a ferocious struggle.

"Who knows? I’m not sure about that far. Maybe if we scour the Forest of the Four Seasons, we’ll find one?"

[Quite an interesting story.]

Cain seemed to take it quite seriously. I didn’t deny it either.

The question was whether anyone else had performed deeds on par with Cain’s. That was the core issue.

Aside from his title as the first paladin, calling his achievements "heroic" felt almost understated.

’Speaking of which, is he a Dreadnought rather than a Dragoon?’

Being an ancient ancestor, serving a god-like entity, and possessing absurdly overwhelming martial prowess.

I pushed the pointless thoughts aside and turned my head. By now, most of the penguin corpses had been burned to ashes.

Worrying whether the smell might attract wild beasts, I added charcoal over them.

Not to deodorize, but to emit an even nastier stench. That way, beasts wouldn’t flock; they’d run away.

’Though lots of smoke is unavoidable...’

That was something I had to endure.

The only real dilemma was whether I should go ice fishing again next time.

Reeling in a penguin was a kind of "dud." I couldn’t just give up.

But having accumulated considerable fatigue from the unprovoked fight, I intended to rest for now.

’I’ll just wing lunch with whatever’s left.’

I was going to call off ice fishing and move on to my routine tasks.

Thus, after burying the thoroughly burned penguin corpses in a pit, I took a rest.

[Starlight Lady: Grylls-nim. Do you have time for a chat? It might get a bit long, so please contact me when you’re free!]

Right when I entered the Gallery out of boredom, a message from Starlight Lady arrived.

She asked to talk whenever I had time since the conversation might run long.

Seeing the message, I asked the rest of my group to handle the cleanup.

[Wild Grylls: Made some time. What’s up?]

[Starlight Lady: Do you remember what I mentioned before? About pulling Grylls-nim out from here using a summoning spell.]

That was what Starlight Lady had brought up earlier. An escape method I had half-buried because the odds were so low.

But who was Starlight Lady? A person who suffered from the Nine Yin Severed Meridians in exchange for heaven-sent genius.

Now that she was completely cured of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, only her genius remained. It wasn’t an impossible feat.

[Wild Grylls: Honestly, I had shelved that idea. Is it really possible? What are the odds?]Get faster updates on novеlping.com.

[Starlight Lady: Honestly speaking, they aren’t high. Before that, are you familiar with the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy?]

[Wild Grylls: Sounds like you’re saying a massive amount of mana is required to summon me?]

[Starlight Lady: Exactly! The probability rises if we summon using mana similar to Grylls-nim’s as the cost.]

It was an easy theory to understand. Which was why I could point out the side effect immediately.

[Wild Grylls: If that goes wrong, won’t you summon that Flesh Aberration I saw a few days ago?]

A highly persuasive point of concern. The Forest of the Four Seasons was huge.

No. Even calling it huge was vastly understating it.

Whatever work the Gods did, it was on the level of embedding an entire planet into the area.

An act using their unique spatial compression abilities. I couldn’t even grasp the underlying principle.

’If things go wrong, something even more dangerous than that Flesh Aberration could be summoned.’

For instance, Tyranno’s mother Vanir sleeping in her nest.

Or the master of the Inverted Waterfall.

Or entities I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of, and so on.

The likelihood of a creature I hadn’t encountered being summoned instead was overwhelmingly high.

As mentioned earlier, the Forest of the Four Seasons itself was massive enough to rival a whole planet.

[Starlight Lady: Naturally, I’m taking that aspect into consideration as well. I’ve gathered powerful experts just in case.]

[Wild Grylls: You said you were researching with the Mage King, right? Is he the only one?]

[Starlight Lady: No, there are more. Ash, the Sword Master of our Empire, and if we’re lucky, the Hero of the Holy Kingdom will participate too.]

[Wild Grylls: The Hero?]

My eyes widened at the news that even Asella was participating. Not to mention the Sword Master Ash.

Just how high was her status and ability to display that level of influence?

Normally I didn’t care about the real identities of other fixed handles, but Starlight Lady was different.

[Wild Grylls: Pardon me, but is your identity an Imperial Princess or a Duke’s daughter?]

[Starlight Lady: It’s a secret haha]

[Wild Grylls: Then I’ll tell you a secret of mine too.]

[Starlight Lady: Please tell me first.]

[Wild Grylls: Truth is, I’m a reincarnated god.]

[Starlight Lady: I’m a Duke’s daughter of the Messiah Empire haha]

As expected, she didn’t believe me. Well, I threw in a bluff myself, so I had no room to complain.

Well, even if she didn’t reveal her identity, the fact that she consistently helped me remained unchanged.

Rather than prying obsessively, doing something helpful for her was better.

[Wild Grylls: Is there anything I can help with? If I can raise the odds even a tiny bit, I’d gladly help.]

[Starlight Lady: Ideally, I’d love to ask for spare Inner Cores... but that might be difficult, right?]

[Wild Grylls: Nope. Inner Cores are overflowing here, so I can give you a few.]

Inner Cores were things I obtained whenever I fished or hunted certain beasts.

Previously, even the refrigerated storage box gifted by Smart Demon...

...had become full, so I had no choice but to store the rest in the food pantry.

That’s why I freaked out whenever my food pantry got raided.

[Wild Grylls: But will that be enough? It feels weird saying it myself, but my mana is way more than you’d imagine.]

[Starlight Lady: That’s why I took advice from Kadir-nim. It’s a magic spell that can convert specific items into pure mana.]

[Wild Grylls: Sounds like a seriously incredible spell?]

[Starlight Lady: Simply put, it’s an offering. One of the common methods used when summoning undead. Except it works on inanimate objects rather than living sacrifices.]

Are they really trying to summon a Flesh Aberration? Still, the theory itself made sense.

However, since it wasn’t pure mana, the energy consumption was said to be considerable.

After thinking for a moment, I asked if I could send items other than Inner Cores.

[Wild Grylls: Besides Inner Cores, can I give things like Orichalcum and Mithril? Both have properties that amplify mana.]

[Starlight Lady: Regrettably, what’s needed isn’t amplification output, but absolute mana quantity. Still, it won’t be completely unhelpful.]

[Wild Grylls: I’ll send you a few Mythricon ingots.]

[Starlight Lady: Thank you. However, the first attempt will be conducted gently, so you don’t need to give too much.]

[Wild Grylls: Might as well give them in advance. I hope for a good outcome. Oh right, by the way, what are the odds?]

The probability was the most important part.

Did the odds increase the more it was repeated?

Namely, whether each try was an independent trial was the key issue. If independent, it was literal gambling.

[Starlight Lady: According to my calculations, the probability is... around 0.03%. It might get higher if repeated steadily.]

[Wild Grylls: Sounds doable.]

[Starlight Lady: Objectively speaking, that is an extremely low probability though?]

[Wild Grylls: Still better than 0.000001%. A dragon told me that before.]

Crucially, the fact that it could be repeated almost infinitely was huge.

Attempting only once at a 50% chance versus attempting infinitely at an abysmal chance.

I preferred the latter over the former. Why?You are reading on novelрing.com, the official source.

’Because failing a 50% chance basically means my luck is dogshit.’

Maybe that’s why I hated 50% odds the most. 30% was much better.

If a 30% chance failed, I could just sigh and let it slide with an "Ah well, can’t be helped."

[Wild Grylls: I’ll send various items over right away. I pray for a good outcome.]

[Starlight Lady: Yes! I will definitely help you get out of there!]

[Wild Grylls: By the way, is it possible to objectively verify the amount of mana I possess? That would make things easier.]

[Starlight Lady: We plan to figure that out gradually. As I mentioned earlier, there’s something to check first.]

[Wild Grylls: What’s that thing you need to check?]

[Starlight Lady: It’s something I learned recently thanks to Grylls-nim. The pressure inside the Forest of the Four Seasons is so intense that one cannot use their original mana.]

Because of that very issue, even Ludwig, a powerful paladin, was struggling to survive.

He barely survived thanks to the Mythricon sword I handed him; otherwise, he would have kicked the bucket long ago.

[Starlight Lady: Putting it differently, we must verify what happens when a creature inhabiting the Forest of the Four Seasons comes outside.]

[Wild Grylls: Is there a bad hypothesis?]

[Starlight Lady: Just that, like deep-sea creatures, their bodies might explode unable to withstand the pressure differential?]

[Wild Grylls: Shiver shiver shiver]

[Starlight Lady: If not that, their restrictions might be completely lifted, making them several times stronger.]

I prayed it would be the latter. If it was the former, there was neither dream nor hope.

It seemed akin to decompression sickness or air pressure management in outer space.

I suggested to Starlight Lady to let me know if she needed anything else.

Shortly after tossing her several Mythricon ingots alongside Inner Cores, I sent a message to someone else.

[Wild Grylls: Orange Badge-nim. You heard what Starlight Lady and I talked about just now, right?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Yes! Of course I plan to help!]

[Wild Grylls: Please do.]

In practice, it was no different from rolling a gacha in real life. The problem was not knowing what would be summoned.

Even the "pity system" present in every gacha game didn’t exist here, so there was no choice but to headbutt it relentlessly.

There was nothing more I could do. All I could do was wait quietly.

I lounged around the Shelter before logging into the Gallery. If I remembered right, Heavenly Demon was participating in the semifinals soon.

[Yaksha Blood Flower overwhelmingly dominates semifinals too shudder]

[Is Yaksha Blood Flower really the Heavenly Demon? Seriously insanely strong.]

[Isn’t there someone from the palace in the audience stands right now?]

[We’re fucked. Looks like the Venus Guard came.]

As expected, Heavenly Demon secured an overwhelming victory in the semifinals. But the reactions were unusual.

Saying the Imperial Palace sent someone, asking if chaos was about to erupt soon, and so forth.

Seeing an ominous current flow, it seemed Heavenly Demon was also taking action in earnest.

’...I’ll just root for her hard.’

What could I even do? I’ll just sit still and cheer.

Just as I closed the Gallery, I scanned the house and noticed something strange.

"Huh? Where did Lackey go..."

"Master! Master! Big fish! Reeled in a giant fish!!!"

The moment I looked for Lackey’s whereabouts, a racket echoed from outside.

Surprised, I dashed outside, and lo and behold.

"Kyaaaaah!"

A big fish indeed, but I spotted Lackey having reeled in a rather bizarre "big fish."

Looking at the "big fish" lined with densely packed sharp teeth, I barked out:

"You—what the hell did you fish up this time?!"

"It’s fish!"

"What do you mean fish?!"

He had reeled in a six-headed reptile.

"Anyone can see that’s a snake!!!"

"Pulled out of water, so big fish!"

"Shut up and kill it already!"

Life sure is tough.

As another uneventful day passed like that.

"Greetings. It is an honor to meet the illustrious Hero-nim."

"Not at all. The honor is mine to come face to face with the Sword Master of the Empire."

Asella learned the true identities of "Sword Matstar" and "Starlight Lady."

’...I acted fairly genteel in the Gallery, so I should be fine, right?’

She grit her teeth hard to suppress a burst of laughter from escaping.