I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 478

An inner core is a mass of energy harbored by a spiritual beast that has lived for decades or more.

Normally, obtaining even a single one would be extraordinarily difficult, but they were scattered all over the place in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

It was a place where catching a mere fish would yield an inner core, however small. Perhaps that was why the inner cores I had accumulated so far were countless.

I was consuming one a day, and I was even handing them out not just to Lackey and Ludwig, but to the kids as well. Even so, the inner cores kept steadily piling up.

You might ask if giving them to children—even if okay for adults—was dangerous? There was no need to worry.

Having been born and raised in the Forest of the Four Seasons, there wasn’t the slightest problem for them. Still, the fact that they kept piling up remained an issue.

’In that case, let’s try using them as fuel. In Setan, they said mana stones are just fuel made of clustered mana, so this should work to some degree.’

Inner cores and mana stones were similar, but upon closer analysis, they were different.

While inner cores could be ingested, mana stones could not. Ingesting one was a surefire way to contract all sorts of illnesses.

Although absorbing an inner core incorrectly could lead to qi deviation, it was still relatively better.

Anyway, putting that aside, it was time to extract the Adamantium that simply refused to melt.

’If its performance is underwhelming even after feeding it an inner core, that’d be a bit disappointing.’

Adamantium was renowned as the rarest among the three great mythical minerals.

It was true that its capabilities were formidable enough to match that reputation. Still, hearing about it in words alone left things ambiguous.

Simply possessing superior durability compared to other minerals? That was a good trait.

However, whether it had terrifying cutting power like the Sword of the Heavenly Demon, amplified mana like Mithril, and so forth...

From my perspective, my interest leaned more toward the software side than the hardware side.

’Let’s just extract it first and see.’

I could always worry about what to craft after extracting it.

With that, I fed a generous amount of charcoal into the roof of the blazing furnace.

Following the charcoal, I put in an inner core that was still emitting light. Now all I had to do was wait, but...

Hwareureureuk!

Not long after putting in the inner core, intense flames flared up from the furnace roof.

The flames were so scorching that, moving past red and yellow, they bordered on pure white.

Fearing I might get burned for no good reason if I drew too close, I backed away slightly.

Jjororeuk—

Was it thanks to the intense flames? Molten metal began trickling out from the bottom conduit.

According to the dwarf’s explanation, when iron and impurities separate from each other, the iron sinks to the bottom while the impurities rise to the top.

In other words, the chances were very high that this molten metal was the extracted Adamantium.

I brought over a mold so the molten metal could set into a neat shape.

It wasn’t a casting mold for an item, but an ingot mold. It wasn’t as if I was crafting something right away; this was strictly for storage.

However, there was an unexpected issue: namely, the volume of extracted Adamantium.

"Wait. Why is it this meager?"

Even though I had melted down that vast hoard of Adamantium daggers, the yield was absurdly tiny.

Barely half an ingot mold was all there was. Compared to the amount that came from the frilled lizard, this was dreadfully lacking.

Wondering if this was really right, I immediately put up a post on the Gallery.

Title) Is this right?

Wild Grylls

(Video of Adamantium extraction process)

(Photo of a mountain of piled Adamantium daggers)

(Photo of a tiny Adamantium ingot)

I melted down that entire huge pile, and all I got was what’s in the photo below.

I wondered if I did something wrong, but it doesn’t look like I messed up anything in particular? Just in case, I even uploaded a video.

Does Adamantium normally yield this little?

└ Heavenly Demon) I have heard that True Steel is the rarest among all minerals. Even an amount such as that is understandable.

└ Smart Demon) It seems to be because you didn’t find the mineral vein itself.

└ Anon) The demon is probably right.

└ The others are ore veins, but with that, you have to extract it from scratch.

└ Holy shit, even that much is huge lolol

└ To find Adamantium on the outside, you’d have to grind through an entire mega-mine;;

└ Praise the Sun) My friend. Do you have any idea how much Adamantium went into the shield I gave you?

└ Wild Grylls) Considering how sturdy it was, didn’t it have quite a lot?

└ Praise the Sun) It was literally a mouse shit’s worth. It was practically just a microscopic coating.

└ Wild Grylls) You’re exaggerating way too much.

└ Praise the Sun) People sometimes curse out the rich folks in Setan for being clueless about the real world, but you’re bound to get cursed out even more.

└ Hahahahaha

└ Hahaha lol

└ That’s way beyond just being clueless about the world lolol

└ Passing Dwarf) You’re extracting it just fine. But what’s up with the color of that flame?

└ Wild Grylls) I told you earlier. Charcoal wouldn’t melt it, so I threw in an inner core.Follow the newest chapters on novelрing.com.

└ Passing Dwarf) Fucking hell, this bastard really is the type to sharpen a blade with gold. Wait, no. Now he’d probably sharpen it with Mithril.

└ Wild Grylls) Catch one fish and bam, there’s an inner core, so well...

└ Everyone. It sounds insane, but in the Forest of the Four Seasons, it’s actually possible.

└ Both inner cores and Adamantium are damn near impossible to get, and he just pulls that off lolol

Somehow, I ended up getting chewed out. While feeling slightly wronged, I was able to let it slide.

More important than that was the true capability of Adamantium.

Judging from what Praise the Sun said, the item became overwhelmingly sturdy even with an infinitesimal amount added.

In other words, Adamantium’s true ability meant ’enhancement.’

’Enhancement, huh...’

I glanced at the Sword of the Heavenly Demon. The weapon that had saved my life countless times up until now.

Its base performance was already insane, but what if I enhanced it with Adamantium on top of that?

It would transform into something that would easily last me more than a lifetime. But I was terrified.

’If I mess up the enhancement for no good reason, it might get ruined.’

My proficiency as a blacksmith remained firmly at the beginner level.

It was just that I had an infinite supply of precious materials; the end products themselves were ordinary.

Yet, that didn’t mean I could leave the Adamantium neglected like this.

’Let’s give it a try. It’s not like I’m lacking Mythricon anyway.’

I made up my mind to enhance a Mythricon sword with Adamantium.

The enhancement method was very simple: heat the Mythricon red-hot, then coat it with Adamantium.

Since Praise the Sun said only a mouse shit’s worth went in, adding just a tiny fraction would probably suffice.

Hwareureuk! Hwareuk!

I heated the Mythricon sword in the forge until it was red-hot. Now it was time to heat the Adamantium ingot.

Mikkeul!

"Oops."

However, my hand slipped and I dropped the ingot. The dropped ingot landed right on top of the red-hot Mythricon sword.

If it had been any other mineral, picking it back up would have been the end of it. But something was strange.

Chijijijik! Chijijik!

Astoundingly, the Adamantium ingot was sinking right into the red-hot Mythricon.

It might sound like an odd analogy, but it seeped in just like melting butter.

A situation hard to believe even seeing it with my own eyes. Watching this, I blinked in disbelief.

Before long, all the Adamantium I had gone through such pains to extract was sucked entirely into the Mythricon sword.

I couldn’t tell at all whether this was the effect of the Mythricon sword or the effect of the Adamantium.

Woong!

Having absorbed it all, the Mythricon sword resonated with a faint vibration.

After a brief moment of feeling dumbfounded, I quietly plunged the blade into the oil quench tank.

Chiiiiik!

Accompanied by hot vapor, the Mythricon sword cooled down at a rapid pace.

Next, I slowly drew the sword out to check if its appearance had changed.

It still bore a dull gray luster, making it impossible to tell what had changed.

’Did something really change?’

Finding it difficult to figure out, I began testing its performance.

Starting from the most basic test of chopping wood, to channeling aura into it, strength tests, and so on.

Nothing seemed to have particularly changed. Even the strength test was meaningless, since Mythricon was already harder than steel to begin with.

"Sss... I really can’t tell what changed."

Still, the hardness was likely to have increased. The shield Praise the Sun gave me had probably been similar.

Perhaps a massive change had occurred in its durability. With frequent use, blades inevitably chipped.

I handed the Mythricon sword back to Ludwig. The moment Ludwig received the sword, he began honing it razor-sharp with a whetstone.

"Hmm?"

"What is it?"

"The whetstone is the one being shaved down instead."

"...Pardon?"

Hearing Ludwig’s words, I looked at the whetstone. The whetstone was truly being sliced like paper.

It had felt ordinary when cutting wood earlier, so could there be some other hidden property?

"Look at this."

"Where?"

"The blade’s surface looks as though it has been coated."

What was even more surprising was that traces of a coating could be seen on the blade’s surface.

I hadn’t even done anything separately, yet the Adamantium had coated it entirely on its own.This story is hosted at novelрing.com.

Did metal have a will of its own? The astonishing things weren’t just one or two.

’It’s too early to be amazed by just this, though...’

Its detailed performance would only be grasped once put to the test in real combat.

Adamantium couldn’t simply be evaluated by its formidable durability alone.

With that, I resolved to steadily extract Adamantium. There was no harm in steadily extracting it.

Best of all, it even enhanced itself without needing a blacksmith’s help, so nothing could be better.

’I should give a little to the Heavenly Demon. Ah, I wonder if the Holy Sword can be enhanced too?’

It was something I suddenly grew curious about. Could the Holy Sword, famous as the legacy of Aris, be enhanced as well?

Honestly, the chances were high that Adamantium was already included in the Holy Sword. If it had been merely at the level of a renowned blade, it would hardly have been hailed as a Holy Sword.

Finishing my thoughts, I spoke to the Heavenly Demon.

Reasoning that since she did use swords, giving her a little would be fine.

[Heavenly Demon: It feels as though I am only ever receiving from you. There is truly no need to bestow something so precious upon me.]

[Wild Grylls: It’s because it’s you, Heavenly Demon-nim. Besides, it’s only a small amount, so it’s fine.]

[Heavenly Demon: I shall take care not to use it carelessly. If there is anything you require, do speak of it.]

[Wild Grylls: We can call it even with the herbal medicine pot you gave me last time.]

I was still making very good use of the herbal medicine pot even now. Among the items the Heavenly Demon had given me recently, its quality was exceptionally outstanding.

[Wild Grylls: Ah. And there’s one thing I wanted to ask.]

[Heavenly Demon: Speak.]

[Wild Grylls: When are you going to use the sword I gave you? I haven’t seen you use it even once so far.]

[Heavenly Demon: This lady is not so foolish as a lion exerting its full might merely to catch a rabbit.]

[Wild Grylls: Ah. Right.]

An answer exceedingly typical of the Heavenly Demon came back.

Next up was Don’t Abandon the Hero—that is, the Hero Asella.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Thank you! With this, the Holy Sword will become even greater!]

[Wild Grylls: Can the Holy Sword be enhanced too?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: If not, I’ll use it as an accessory! Would that be okay?]

[Wild Grylls: Yes. That’s fine.]

Now that I’d given some to Asella too, I wrapped up the extraction process for now.

It was such an inefficient chore that it was eating up far too much time.

More importantly, something blew up on the Gallery.

Title) Hello, everyone. I am the Blue Badge.

Sword Matstar

I don’t know why, but I’ve become a Blue Badge. Long live the Orange Badge!

└ Heavenly Demon) ?

└ Heavenly Demon) Why have you come?

└ Seriously, why did you become a Blue Badge?;;

└ No, seriously, that came out of nowhere lolol

└ It’s so out of nowhere that even the Heavenly Demon is flustered lololol

└ Sword Matstar) Dunno. The Orange Badge told me that if I’ve got nothing to do, I might as well do Blue Badge work.

└ She gave an unemployed bum a job. Be grateful to the Orange Badge.

└ It only counts as a job if they pay you money;;

└ Then what’s a Blue Badge?

└ A slave.

└ Don’t Abandon the Hero) Please use the term unpaid volunteer instead of slave!

└ Unpaid volunteer (forced)

└ Hahahahaha

└ Hahahahahahaha

└ Pffft hahaha

For reasons unknown, Sword Matstar had become a Blue Badge.

It was such a completely random turn of events that I was quite taken aback.

’Well... an acquaintance became a Blue Badge, so that shouldn’t be bad.’

Even if someone bearing ill will toward me had become a Blue Badge, it wouldn’t have mattered.

I was in a practically invincible position where not even the Orange Badge could ban me.

And then, an even more absurd situation was right before me. It was Bbareumbo.

Chijijijik! Chijijik!

"...What are you doing?"

"..."

Bbareumbo was sharpening his claws with the Adamantium ingot.