I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 463

"You’re a pet. You can just stay still. Got it?"

I spoke to the Rain Frog, who had worked hard to prove its worth. The suspicion I had harbored at first had completely vanished.

Animals other than mammals usually aren’t that intelligent. But this guy was different.

Should I say it was quick on the uptake, or was it making an effort in its own way?

Watching it eagerly carry tree branches to keep the fireplace from going out was both admirable and a bit pitiful.

"Ppi-yung."

The Rain Frog answered cutely as if it understood. I gently stroked its head.

It accepted my touch without any resistance. Looks like it has adjusted, more or less.

’How on earth did a creature like this survive in the Forest of the Four Seasons?’

Judging by its size, even if it wasn’t a full adult yet, it had definitely survived for quite a long time.

The problem was the Rain Frog’s utterly sluggish behavior. Looking like a steamed bun, there was zero agility to be found.

It could stand up proudly on its short legs, but that was it. Even then, standing up was where it ended; it couldn’t actually walk.

’Is it because it’s so truly trivial that no predator bothered with it?’

Or maybe it tasted damn terrible. The lovebugs that had caused a fuss back in the Republic of Korea had proliferated for a similar reason.

Predators tasted a lovebug once and avoided them, deciding they were absolutely not edible.

I lightly tapped the Rain Frog’s head and looked elsewhere.

"So, making any progress?"

"Hmm."

It was Ludwig. Exactly one day had passed since he ingested the Life Herb.

On the surface, nothing seemed to have changed. His aura was similar to before as well.

He looked down over his body and opened his mouth.

"The proportion of usable mana has definitely increased."

"By how much?"

"From what was 10% up to 40%."

"Oh."

That was a whole fourfold increase. An exclamation slipped out automatically.

If he also used his Mythricon sword on top of this, he would be able to use a far stronger Aura than before.

By steadily expanding his capacity like this, he would eventually be able to utilize 100%.

"If I find something similar later, I’ll give it to you right away."

"You don’t need to invest so excessively in me, though."

"You said it yourself, ahjussi. Using 50 power with a 100% success rate is more important than using 200 power with a 50% chance."

"...."

Ludwig chuckled quietly upon hearing my words. A proud expression was an added bonus.

Anyway, now that Ludwig’s matter was resolved and winter had arrived, I started with my External Arts training.

For building up physical prowess, nothing is better than External Arts training.

Though it had the drawback of terrible efficiency, this was the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Combined with my unique constitution, the efficiency was bound to go insane.

"Phew."

I didn’t even know how many hours had passed. Even in the harsh cold of winter, sweat poured off me like rain.

The fireplace was operating, but unless it was Ondol, there were clear limits to heating.

Afterwards, I even took a cold bath to soothe my intensely stimulated muscles. They say cold baths are great for muscle recovery.

Sometimes athletes take ice baths too, all for muscle recovery.

’Is it thanks to the herbal medicine I drank last winter? It’s surprisingly bearable.’

After finishing the cold water soak, I prepared lunch.

Since the kids were sleeping peacefully, I only needed to prepare food for the rest of us.

Also, perhaps because it was winter, the Three-Legged Crow didn’t visit either.

"...."

"Huh?"

It was while I was enjoying lunch with the pre-prepared food.

The Rain Frog, having appeared out of nowhere, waddled closer. It even stood up hesitantly.

Staring intently without pressuring me, it looked like it desperately wanted to eat but was reading the room.

"Want some?"

"Ppi-yung."

I handed over a piece of well-cooked meat. The Rain Frog seemed cautious at first, then carefully took it with its hands.

Taking it with hands instead of its tongue like a proper frog was bizarre, but I let it pass.

"Is it tasty?"

"Ppi-yung."

Wonmo was hibernating, and Bbareumbo was sluggish beyond belief. In the end, I had to take care of feeding this guy too.

The small silver lining was that its tiny size meant I didn’t need to give it much.

"By the way, don’t you usually live underground?"

What was even funnier was that it was spacing out in front of the fireplace alongside Bbareumbo.

Whether it loved the warmth of the fire or not, it stood in front of it all day.Enjoying the story? Read on at novelрing.com.

Bbareumbo must have found the Rain Frog cute too, occasionally patting its head.

’Truly unpredictable, this guy.’

I shrugged my shoulders and stepped out into the yard. Having practiced External Arts in the morning, I planned to do a different training session in the afternoon.

What training? Archery, of course. Ludwig had mentioned that my talent for archery was exceptionally high.

But I had no intention of settling for this, and above all, I needed to practice something else as well.

’Since I can’t project Sword Qi, if the target is far away, I need to shoot an arrow immediately.’

This was what Sword Matstar had taught me: swiftly switching weapons and handling them masterfully.

It was similar to weapon switching often seen in games. But reality and games are worlds apart.

Trying to pull out a bow right after swinging a sword resulted in insane clumsiness.

Shaving off even a fraction of this delay would make combat much easier.

Pheeing! Pick!

It wasn’t just weapon switching. How quickly and accurately I could shoot the bow was key.

Trying to practice all of this at once gave me a headache. The redeeming factor was that it could be overcome through grueling practice.

If it were like swordsmanship where variance depends heavily on innate talent, I would have cried, but this wasn’t that.

’Besides, I’m steadily reading the posts uploaded by Sword Matstar regarding swordsmanship.’

Some people might think I’m only increasing my physical stats. In truth, I’m honing my technique step by step as well.

There is no better time to practice than winter. If I make good use of this opportunity, it will shine one day.

Pak! Pak!

Countless arrows struck the makeshift target. Regrettably, few hit the center.

Still, the important thing was that they didn’t miss the target entirely. Last time, they flew off somewhere completely weird.

Figuring that was enough for today, I cleaned up. Immersed in practice, the sun had already begun to set.

’Looking at it this way, the days feel so short.’

After cleaning up and finishing dinner, I wrapped up the day.

Of course, it wasn’t completely wrapped up. I still had to check what was happening in the Gallery.

While I was at it, I asked the fixed-handle user who took charge of processing the sheep wool for an update.

[Suspiciously...: It will be completed within two days. There was more sheep wool than expected, so it took longer.]

[Wild Grylls: Roughly what size is it?]

[Suspiciously...: If we’re talking blanket size, it’s large enough to cover over 10 people.]

[Wild Grylls: That’s way too big. For now, please divide it into single-person sizes as much as possible.]

I should give the rest to other fixed-handle users. I won’t be able to use it all anyway.

After that, I checked if anything else was going on in the Gallery. Most of the posts were related to the Central Plains.

Probably because the Heavenly Demon personally declared her reign over the world, things felt quite chaotic.

’In a way, she openly declared a rebellion.’

It made sense. The Central Plains had been bound together as one for far too long.

Just looking at the West, numerous countries were crowding together.

Unifying into a single nation for hundreds of years was an incredible feat in itself.

Even on Earth, the only nation with a history of that scale was the thousand-year empire, Rome.

What’s more, this world is a place where individuals are literally treated as strategic weapons. That means the Central Plains managed to govern them well.

’Yet surprisingly, there isn’t much mention of the Heavenly Demon.’

Though posts popped up occasionally, it was relatively quiet. I thought she would step into the spotlight immediately, so this was unexpected.

I thought about asking about it, but quickly dismissed the idea. She probably had her reasons.

Just as I was putting the Gallery aside and getting ready to sleep...

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Grylls-nim! Are you there right now!]

Asella sent a message with exquisite timing.

If it was a question from her, I was ready to answer anytime. I replied.

[Wild Grylls: Yes. What’s wrong?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: It’s nothing else, but... well...!]

Asella was silent for a while, and then...

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Ah, never mind! Please pretend you didn’t hear that!]

She left behind incomprehensible words and vanished. What on earth?

I had no idea why she was acting like this, but I brushed it off, thinking she had her reasons.

After all, I was ready to answer Asella’s questions anytime. At least during the winter.

’Time to sleep.’

I watched Bbareumbo and the Rain Frog zoning out in front of the fire before lying down on the bed.

Perhaps because I had a rewarding training session today, I fell asleep right away.

’I’ll train hard tomorrow too.’

Holding onto that thought, I drifted off to sleep.

[♩♪♫♫~ ♩♩♫♫~]

"...?"

I woke up to the sound of singing in my ears. Did I set a morning alarm on the Jukebox Mimic?

Puzzled, I rubbed my bleary eyes. The singing was still audible in my ears.

Unless my ears were playing tricks on me, it meant someone had turned on the jukebox.Find the original chapter at novеlping.com.

Blinking my eyes, I turned my head toward the jukebox.

’What? It’s silent?’

The Jukebox Mimic was inactive. Then where was this song coming from?

In utter bewilderment, I got up from the bed. Since the sound was so quiet, the rest of the party was sleeping soundly.

’Is it coming from outside?’

Thinking "no way," I stepped outside. As I opened the door, the song became much clearer.

It was still freezing outside. However, there was a tiny, tiny campfire flickering.

Its size was ridiculously small and adorable. One thing was certain: I definitely hadn’t lit it.

And crucially, there was a tiny creature sitting in front of the campfire.

"Pain! You made me the~"

"...."

The Rain Frog was singing. And it was doing so while sitting on a makeshift miniature chair.

It wasn’t just singing. Both the pitch and the voice were identical to what had played from the jukebox.

What on earth was I looking at? Even a parrot wouldn’t be able to copy it so perfectly.

What was even more surprising were the animals gathered in front of the Rain Frog. Small beasts that had come from who-knows-where were sitting together harmoniously.

Even the deer that arrived yesterday was sitting right there. Regardless of species, peace filled the air.

"Believer~ Believer~"

"...."

I waited quietly until the Rain Frog’s performance ended.

It was thoroughly trivial, but one thing was for certain.

’Lackey is going to lose his job again.’

Lackey would never achieve his dream of becoming a bard.

Title) Check out this Bard Frog

Wild Grylls

(Video 1 of Rain Frog singing)

(Video 2 of Rain Frog singing)

(Photo of the audience sitting in front of the Rain Frog)

(Photo of offerings left behind by the audience)

I woke up this morning and found the Rain Frog singing.

But it sings bloody fucking well, which makes it even more ridiculous;; The animals seem to know this too, since they left their food as offerings and left.

From now on, the bard of our shelter is the Rain Frog.

"Ho."

The woman sitting on the throne, Yoo So-wol, gasped in admiration as she read the Gallery post.

As her body didn’t particularly require sleep, she was surfing the Gallery without sleeping.

She had been waiting to see when Grylls’s post would go up, but an event exceeding all expectations unfolded.

’A singing frog. Truly fascinating.’

For once, her boredom was alleviated. As always, she left the very first comment.

After checking various reactions, she looked at another post. It was a post related to the Heavenly Demon Cult.

Ever since Yoo So-wol made her declaration a while ago, the Central Plains had been thrown into disarray in many ways.

It went without saying, as not only the martial world but also the Imperial Court was entangled in it.

’Yet I am unable to step forth personally. I know not what the Demonic Brain is thinking.’

Yoo So-wol, who was the very person who made the declaration, could not carelessly show herself.

Naturally so, because in the Heavenly Demon Cult today, Yoo So-wol held immense sway for better or worse.

The moment Yoo So-wol took the stage, other fronts could be endangered. She was essentially a walking living nuke.

’And with the Demonic Brain leaving for the West, I am so bored.’

On top of that, the Demonic Brain, Wi Seol-ak, had also departed for the West citing work.

Consequently, she had no choice but to sit idle.

"How tedious."

Of course, setting her boredom aside...

’Even so, that does not mean I can neglect my duties.’

Yoo So-wol meticulously tended to the Hair Growth Herb given by Grylls.

Title) Healthy again today

[Heavenly Demon]

(Photo of healthy growing Hair Growth Herb)

It pleases me to see how well it grows under my careful devotion.

ㄴ Weed.

ㄴ Growing weeds again.

ㄴ Makes me wanna yank it right out lolol

"...."

Yoo So-wol’s eyes twitched.