I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 451

Looking at my rapidly healed wound, I couldn’t help but stand there stunned for a good while.

There are quite a lot of beasts or monsters in the Forest of the Four Seasons with potent powers of recovery.

More than half of the creatures I’ve faced recently possessed insane healing capabilities.

Every time I saw that, I couldn’t help but envy them in secret. Because for me, the moment I get hurt, my combat effectiveness drops off a cliff.

Now, that kind of recovery power belonged to me. Of course, I had no idea what would happen if I suffered a truly severe injury.

"Um, Ludwig-ahjussi. I have a question."

"Speak."

"We’ve seen plenty of monsters with unusually strong healing powers among the ones we’ve encountered so far, right?"

"Encountered them to the point of nausea, yes."

Since it was a situation that was hard to figure out on my own, I decided to ask Ludwig for his opinion.

Pondering how to explain it, I picked up a thorn that had been lodged in my flesh earlier.

Since I hadn’t cleaned them up immediately, thorns were scattered across the floor. They were quite sharp.

Kok!

I grabbed the thorn and stabbed it into my arm. I deliberately drove it hard, so it went in quite deep.

Ludwig put on a puzzled expression at my act of self-harm. However, that look didn’t last long.

Sssuuuk-

The flesh that had been half-pierced repaired itself rapidly. Blood had flowed out, but once I wiped it clean, there wasn’t even a trace of a scar left.

Ludwig stared at it for a while before looking straight into my face.

It was a truly magnificent expression that practically screamed, Are you seriously a human being?

"Even so, I really am human."

"I know."

"It’s not like there’s nobody else like me out there, right?"

I spoke with a tone of aggrieved protest. Something similar had been mentioned in the Gallery before.

Aura overload—the condition (?) I was currently suffering from. In the past, there was a swordsman with a similar condition.

That swordsman even held the title of Sword Saint, and while he just had an excessive amount of aura, his basic skills themselves were outstanding.

"If each of the traits you possess were categorized individually, I might let it pass. But there is no human alive who possesses all of them at once."

"...."

[What is going on?]

Cain, who had been listening to our conversation, approached. Since we were at the Shelter, he was in his stone statue form.

He was a person from even further back than Ludwig—the very first Paladin and Hero.

Thinking there might have been someone similar to me back then, I explained the situation to him.

[Strong recovery powers? That might not be as great an ability as you think, you know?]

"Huh?"

However, Cain gave an answer completely contrary to my expectations.

Super-fast regenerative healing like something out of a movie. In truth, it wasn’t all that great.

A statement I couldn’t comprehend at all. But Cain spoke from his own past experiences.

[There was someone with an ability similar to yours. But despite how good the ability seemed, he died very quickly.]

"Why?"

[Because he healed with an arrow stuck inside his chest.]

"...."

[They pulled the arrow out, but fragments remained inside, poisoning him. Unable to endure the agony, he committed suicide.]

It was terrifying precisely because it was so brutally realistic. Super-speed regeneration in fiction was usually closer to the concept of restoration—

the concept of resetting a wrecked body back to its original state. There shouldn’t even be a fragment left inside.

"Under what circumstances did that person gain such an ability?"

[Well now. Even I do not know that much.]

"Mmm...."

[There is no need to worry too much. The case I knew was someone who healed the very instant he was wounded. You are different, aren’t you?]

I nodded at Cain’s words. Just as he said, I hadn’t healed the exact instant the thorn pierced my flesh.

If that had been the case, I really would have healed with thorns stuck all over my body like a hedgehog.

’I need to figure this out more thoroughly.’

Hearing the example Cain mentioned filled me with dread. If things went wrong, I might end up in a situation that even an Elixir couldn’t cure.

The worst-case scenario would be contracting chronic poisoning and suffering for the rest of my life, or being left with equivalent lifelong aftereffects.

This wasn’t something to mindlessly celebrate. Conveniently, I had Elixirs on hand, so the conditions were good for testing.

"Then I’ll have to get a detailed grasp of my healing ability."

[Are you planning to commit self-harm?]

"Yes."

At my confident reply, the mood around me turned bizarre. I looked around at them.

They were all wearing expressions that said I had lost my goddamn mind.

I understood why they were reacting like that, but it couldn’t be helped.

"What? Isn’t this better than sparring like our lives are on the line?"

"Wouldn’t sparring actually be better?"

"I’m just going to verify the recovery ability. After that, we can figure out the direction for sparring."

Saying so, I instructed the group to step outside.

Bbareumbo was still lying on the floor, fast asleep. Since he had suffered so much for my sake, I ought to let him rest comfortably.Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping(.)com.

After stepping outside shortly after, I brought out a hammer made of Mythricon.

It wasn’t a normal blacksmith hammer, but a full-sized sledgehammer. Naturally, it was meant as a tool, not a weapon.

I usually used it when there were rocks too tough to shatter even with a pickaxe. Or to break apart Mythril buried in the backyard.

"Here. Lackey-ya."

After handing the sledgehammer to Lackey, I laid my arm across a suitable tree stump.

Then I spoke to Lackey, who was standing there blinking blankly.

"Now smash my arm with that."

"...Is that really okay?"

"We have Elixirs, and I need to verify my healing ability while we’re at it."

Cain provided an additional explanation. The person who had super-speed regeneration like me—

when that person broke a bone, it fused back together misaligned, forcing him to live with permanent aftereffects for the rest of his life.

This test would determine whether I was such a case or if my ability operated on the concept of restoration.

’It’s gonna hurt like hell, though.’

Pain is fleeting. Still, as Lackey approached holding the sledgehammer, I flinched a little inside.

During a fight, adrenaline pumps through you so the pain is dulled, but right now, this was practically self-mutilation.

They say knowing it’s coming hurts less, but pain is still pain.

Sseueuk-

Soon, Lackey raised the hammer high. Looking up from below, I had a front-row view of the sight.

Seeing a hulking gorilla wielding a massive hammer made me feel a little—no, a lot terrified.

"W-Wait a second!"

"Why? Getting scared?"

"Yeah. Scared shitless."

I answered proudly. Doing this sober was definitely out of the question.

What I needed right now was an anesthetic. As luck would have it, a natural anesthetic existed right in my house.

"Ludwig-ahjussi."

"Speak."

"Um... is there still some of that infused liquor left at home? The one steeped with the Dragon Gastrolith."

"...."

Ludwig stared at me blankly before leaving and bringing back the infused liquor.

The Dragon Gastrolith had been completely dissolved and exhausted. This liquor was merely rich in nutrients now—essentially ordinary infused alcohol.

Still, liquor was liquor, and a Dwarf had brewed it. The taste alone was top-tier.

Ggulkkeok- ggulkkeok-

And it served as a natural anesthetic. A time-tested method seen in countless media.

The problem was...

"...Why is my mind completely clear?"

No matter how much liquor I chugged down, I didn’t get tipsy at all.

I only tasted the booze’s signature bitter flavor; even as time passed, my head remained totally lucid.

As I stood there completely bewildered, Cain chimed in from the side to explain.

[Ah. That fellow also possessed a body that rarely got drunk. I believe it was because his ability to break down toxins was exceptionally high?]

"...."

You useless piece of trash body. I squeezed my eyes shut tight.

In the end, I had no choice but to feel the agonizing pain of a broken bone completely sober.

I’d already suffered the agony of my entire body burning to ash—was I really going to fail to endure this?

"Master. I am hitting now."

"Hit gently."

"If I hit gently, bone won’t break."

"...Fair point."

Soon after, Lackey hoisted the sledgehammer high in the air, and—

Gwaang!!!

It slammed right down onto my arm.

Ududeuk!

"Kheup...!"

The sickening crunch of bones breaking reverberated not through my ears, but through my whole body. I swallowed back a groan.

Carefully raising my arm afterward, the middle section dangled limply. Horrific agony was an extra bonus.

It was similar to the injury I’d suffered from the Alpha Gorilla back in the day. Back then, my arm had dangled limply just like this.

Ududuk! Uduk!

However, that only lasted a brief moment. The dangling arm began slowly pulling itself back together.

Before long, accompanied by the sound of bones snapping back into alignment, my arm stood straight and firm. There wasn’t a single side effect.

The spot where the hammer had struck down—that is, the area that had started turning deep blue with bruising—also restored itself to its original skin tone.

Ggwaak!

The instant all the bones locked back into place, I squeezed my fist tight. It didn’t hurt at all.

Unlike the friend Cain had mentioned, my recovery was closer to the concept of total restoration.

It was a relief, but at the same time baffling. Just how on earth did I obtain an ability like this?

’No matter how much I think about it, I have no idea.’

I examined my arm—which had been dangling helplessly just moments ago—from every angle. It was flawlessly clean.Visit no​velping.com for the full chapter.

The rest of the group reacted with awe or utter shock at this miraculous regenerative power.

"Master."

"Speak."

"I can’t believe it even seeing it with my eyes. Can I try the head next?"

"Want me to beat your ass?"

I gave Lackey an earful for throwing out a half-joking threat.

No matter how strong my healing factor was, if my head—specifically my brain—took damage, it might be irreversible.

For any intelligent creature, human or otherwise, the brain was the single most crucial organ.

[Congratulations. You have become a monster no less formidable than the beasts of the Forest of the Four Seasons.]

"That’s supposed to be a congratulation, right?"

[Your survival probability has skyrocketed; what else could it be if not a congratulation?]

It sounded like sarcasm, but whatever. I looked at my arm once again.

There was something I hadn’t felt earlier, but now registered clearly: the mana inside my body.

The amount of drained mana was noticeably high. Come to think of it, that was probably only natural.

’You can’t just ignore the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy.’

It was highly likely that the foundation of this overwhelming healing power was energy—namely, mana.

If the consumption was high enough for even someone like me to feel it, how severe would it be for normal people?

It was a fantastic ability, but far from an almighty cheat. The mana required for healing was simply too immense.

’Still, this’ll pull my ass out of the fire plenty of times.’

I clenched my fist firmly. In the Forest of the Four Seasons, getting injured is fatal.

Even if I had Elixirs, sustaining a mortal blow mid-combat was a dead end.

"If I throw Master into lava, do you heal too?"

"Shut your mouth before I actually smack you."

Anyway, now that I had gained a proper understanding of my true healing ability, I returned to daily life.

Even with regenerative powers, I couldn’t go exploring until Bbareumbo recovered his stamina.

Ultimately, there was nothing to do but lay low at the Shelter. Until then, I might as well hone my skills.

Title) Guys check this out

Wild Grylls

(Video of a dangling arm snapping back into place in seconds)

I got healing powers now too. This post won’t get deleted, right?

└ Heavenly Demon) An astonishing ability. Even for this seat, if a limb were severed, stopping the bleeding would be the absolute best I could do.

└ Wild Grylls) Finally, I have an area where I outshine Heavenly Demon-nim.

└ Heavenly Demon) Do not get cocky. Relying blindly on regeneration will only result in getting beaten to a pulp.

└ Wild Grylls) Hey, even that’s huge! It means I can use the strategy of trading flesh to break bones way more often.

└ Heavenly Demon) Hmph. Put that way, it does sound sinister. An opponent would have no choice but to take the hit even knowing it’s coming. Still, do not abuse it too recklessly.

└ Wild Grylls) I don’t like getting hurt either, you know.

└ Sword Matstar) Does that apply to... other body parts too, by any chance?

└ Wild Grylls) Like what?

└ Sword Matstar) Stamina?

└ Wild Grylls) ;;;

└ Sword Matstar) It might sound perverted, but it’s out of pure curiosity. Isn’t stamina fundamentally tied to physical energy anyway?

└ Wild Grylls) Ma’am, please;;

└ Why does a totally valid point sound so vulgar;;

└ Vulgarity never filters its words, after all.

└ Praise the Sun) Woah. If it really works like that, I’m jealous as hell. Can I get in on that somehow?

└ Wild Grylls) Pretty sure I gave you something no less potent than an aphrodisiac?

└ Praise the Sun) Hey, natural stamina and artificial supplements are two different things!

└ Wild Grylls) ;;;

└ Passing Dwarf) Hey. How does it work when drinking alcohol? I’m curious.

└ Wild Grylls) It just makes it so I don’t get drunk at all. I drank alcohol when breaking my arm, and I was completely sober.

└ Passing Dwarf) Aw man. Then I don’t need that crap. What’s the point of drinking alcohol if you don’t get drunk?

└ Wild Grylls) Truly profound words of wisdom.

Amused reactions poured out across the Gallery one after another.

Meanwhile, at that exact time in the Holy Kingdom of Avalon.

"Ducal Lady. By any chance, do you know of Wild Grylls?"

"W-What? W-Why bring that up all of a sudden..."

"Because he is a person—no, an organism I want to summon. I’ve developed a serious urge to research him."

Allfather, Kadir, declared his true intentions with absolute confidence.

The Forest of the Four Seasons was one thing, but he wanted to study the man himself.

"...Would it be possible to summon him?"

"...."

"Until recently I thought it might be possible, but seeing things lately..."

Regardless of his wish, the possibility of summoning him had drifted astronomically far out of reach.