I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 546

Meat Forest and Wine Pool (Jujiyukrim)

A pool made of wine and a forest of meat.

A term signifying a luxurious drunken banquet or abundance, with a similar phrase being a land flowing with milk and honey.

However, unlike a land flowing with milk and honey which symbolizes abundance itself, Meat Forest and Wine Pool holds a somewhat debauched image.

Naturally, since banquets with booze and meat are thrown every day.

However, it was merely an expression; in reality, a pool of wine and a forest made of meat did not exist.

A river of beer might be possible if money was poured in somehow. The problem was the meat.

What kind of food is meat? An ingredient impossible to obtain unless animals are slaughtered.

Though soy meat existed, it could never match the unique texture and taste of real meat.

Therefore, meat growing on trees was something my feeble imagination could never conceive.

’How on earth did they alter the genes to make such a tree exist?’

And today, one of my common sense rules shattered. Common sense was already broken, but this was on another level.

A feeling of completely blowing away the foundation of life. I understood a person destroying a mountain or overturning a sea.

But a tree bearing meat was definitely not that. I had seen countless animals and plants genetically modified, but this was entirely different.

"Let me ask again, there are no trees growing meat outside either, right?"

"There aren’t."

[If such a thing existed, we would have eaten meat dishes 365 days a year.]

Since it was such an unbelievable situation, I asked the party once more.

Not just the party, but the fixed-nicks as well. However, only answers of "never seen it" returned.

If it existed outside too, I would have passed it off, thinking, ’Well, it’s a fantasy world.’

However, faced with the truth that it was a specialty (?) existing only in the Forest of the Four Seasons, I was speechless.

"Master. Isn’t this actually a good thing? The meat was running out anyway."

"Hmph..."

Lackey spoke as if it didn’t matter since it was edible.

Just as he said, meat was slowly running out anyway.

The issue was whether this was really a fine ingredient. It was definitely genetically modified.

’You can’t tell if this fed on radiation or fed on something else.’

The taste and aroma were definitely top-notch. Slightly better than what I slaughtered.

The beer river with its surprising crisp carbonation was the same. Resting and eating here all year round would pose no problem.

’That’s the problem.’

If living and eating here all year round didn’t matter, what kind of animals lived in this place?

Carnivores suffer nutrient deficiencies if they don’t eat meat, as far as I know.

Thus, hunting herbivores maintains the balance of the ecosystem.

In this way, the moment meat grows on trees, carnivores have no reason to hunt herbivores.

Naturally, the number of herbivores would surge drastically, a matter that could destroy the ecosystem.

ㄴAllfather) Fascinating as it is, I find it puzzling. If such a thing really exists, can the ecosystem be maintained properly?

ㄴStarlight Lady) Ecosystem aside, I hardly see any animals. At the very least, there should be birds or squirrels.

ㄴSmart Demon) Putting the meat tree aside, looking at the beer river alone, it seems someone cultivated it artificially.

ㄴPassing Dwarf) Can you give me just one glass of that beer by any chance?

ㄴKing Reor) I’m curious about the taste too.

ㄴPrincess Chaenggu) I’m for the meat.

They were split between fixed-nicks analyzing rationally and fixed-nicks who didn’t care about anything else and just wanted to taste the beer and meat.

I decided to examine this forest first. Handing it out carelessly might trigger unknown consequences.

At the very least, I intend to find out how this forest is structured and who cultivated such a forest.

’Just as Smart Demon said, there’s a high probability someone cultivated it artificially.’

If asked whether this forest was generated naturally, I would firmly answer "no".

In the Forest of the Four Seasons, abnormality is common sense, but this felt downright bizarre.

"Don’t eat anything for now, let’s just walk. Let’s follow this river upstream."

I urged the party not to eat anything. There was no telling what side effects might occur.

Also, I decided to go upstream along the beer river. Reaching the starting point of this river should allow us to grasp its origin.This chapter was copied from nоvelping.com without permission.

Just in case we got ambushed, I quietly geared up. The party also sensed the strange atmosphere and maintained silence.

"Wonmo. You don’t smell any weird scents, right?"

"Kkyu-woo."

"Maengkkongi, you don’t sense anything dangerous either?"

"Ppi-yung."

Wonmo with his sharp sense of smell, and Maengkkongi with his superior danger detection ability.

Seeing that neither perceived any danger, the forest itself seemed safe.

Of course, since it was the Forest of the Four Seasons, 100% doubt could not be cast aside. It was right to consider everywhere dangerous except the Shelter.

"Master."

"...Why."

"Unless my eyes are wrong, that looks like a chicken."

"It is a chicken."

However, this unprincipled Meat Forest and Wine Pool far exceeded my imagination.

A tree growing anime meat could be understood to some degree.

[I see chicken drumsticks and wings too.]

"At the very top, there are neck bones."

Would you believe it if a whole roasted chicken bloomed like a flower? That’s what the plant in front of me was like.

On the outside, it looked like an ordinary plant, but the stem was a well-slaughtered chicken torso.

On both sides of that stem, chicken legs and chicken wings were separated and bloomed as extras.

As the finishing touch, neck bones bloomed blankly at the very top. What kind of bizarre plant was this?

Even this alone was dizzying, but the fact that it wasn’t just one made it worse. They were gathered together tightly like rice or wheat.

’Who on earth created this kind of hybrid?’

I became deeply curious about which great person birthed this monstrosity.

That ancient humanity birthed such a forest was clear, but ’why?’ was most important.

Just as the Land of Water, the shipwreck, and furthermore Alpha had reasons and purposes.

ㄴGrow Big and Tall) Um... if it’s not rude, could you get me just one seed? I’d like to study it...

ㄴAllfather) Could you get one for me as well?

ㄴInternal Cultivation Master Robert) Could you give one to me too? I’d like to try growing it.

ㄴHeavenly Demon) If we obtain that, many people will be able to eat meat.

The anime meat tree was ambiguous, but the chicken meat was a flower. Even if large, it wasn’t a tree.

For this reason, quite a few fixed-nicks requested if I could give them just one. For research and cultivation purposes.

"I’ll give it to you later. I plan to check things out first."

I observed the chicken meat that bloomed like a flower from various angles.

I know that for flowers to reproduce, insects like bees must transfer pollen.

Through that process, fruits are borne, and seeds are inside those fruits in most cases.

I wondered if this chicken flower also had seeds inside, so I carefully disassembled it.

In case there was poison, I didn’t forget to wear the World Tree Gloves.

’There isn’t really anything that can be called a seed...’

Legs, wings, neck bones, torso, and so on.

Even after disassembling everything, nothing presumed to be fruit or seed could be found.

Only appetizing flesh or bones were revealed. I questioned whether this was truly a flower.

’Then what about the roots?’

Finally, to check what the roots were like, I carefully dug into the ground.

Fear that something like a mole might grab me lasted only a moment.

The deeper I dug into the dirt, the more an entity far exceeding expectations revealed its form.

"Wh-what is this?"

"Ah. You do not know, Master? That is called an egg. Something birds lay."

Like Lackey’s answer delivering a joke that wasn’t quite a joke from the side, eggs were buried in the ground.

Not root vegetables, but numerous chicken eggs entangled together.

It was so absurd that words didn’t come out, but just then an experiment came to mind.

’If I bury one egg in the ground, will it grow as is?’

Although it was a ridiculous thought, since it looked like a root vegetable, it might be possible.Enjoying the story? Read on at novelрing.com.

I plucked one egg and buried it in suitable soil as is. Even sprinkling water on it.

I didn’t only use the method of burying it whole, but adopted another method as well.

Tuk!

Tapping the egg with the lower part of the Sword of the Heavenly Demon, it cracked open nicely.

Contents starting to leak out from the egg. I poured that onto the ground.

Appetizing egg contents flowed out, looking like ordinary egg white and yolk on the surface.

"Sniff sniff. Sniff."

"Wonmo. You shouldn’t eat that."

"Kkyu-woo."

Wonmo sniffed it, so I hastily stopped him. Fortunately, he didn’t eat it, thinking raw eggs tasted bad.

At any rate, neither method had much significance. In the Forest of the Four Seasons, it should bloom a flower quickly if normal.

’Does a real plant intentionally cause genetic mutations while growing?’

I held doubts and decided to perform a final experiment.

Digging the ground, cracking the egg inside, and quietly covering it with dirt.

Plop!

As soon as I buried the egg in the dirt and watered it, it sprouted.

That sprout grew rapidly as expected of the Forest of the Four Seasons, soon taking the form of a plant.

The problem was what came next. The plant’s form soon had its stem morph.

Along with the stem, parts that were originally leaves began to transform into chicken legs and chicken wings respectively.

"..."

"..."

Before long, a delicious-looking chicken bloomed. Not a single person among the party, including me, could easily speak in the face of this appalling phenomenon.

It was because the growth speed was abnormally fast due to being in the Forest of the Four Seasons; if grown outside, it would have been quite grotesque.

Then, even after seeing this mess, would anyone want to eat it? I turned my head and asked.

"Is there anyone who wants to eat this?"

"I want to eat it."

Lackey answered confidently. A look of ’what’s the problem?’ was extra.

Seeing this, I stared at him with an expression of ’are you really going to do that?’. Done wrong, it could cause bad effects on the body.

Eating it once or twice might be fine, but there’s no telling what changes it would cause if made into a staple diet.

"Master. Are we in a position to pick and choose this and that? By that logic, we shouldn’t have eaten fish either."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means it’s flabbergasting to hear such full-stomach talk."

"..."

"Our goal is immediate survival, Master. Living comfortably made you slack off."

I was rendered speechless by the brutal truth bomb piercing my chest. Indeed, from our position, we weren’t in a place to pick and choose.

In a situation where food was running out, we might have had to eat only grass.

"...Got it. But let’s figure out how this happened before gathering."

"Good idea, Master."

First, I plan to look into how this forest was birthed.

Thus, we passed the area where chickens were, and before long, reached the upper stream of the river.

Surprisingly, at the upper stream of the river, neither a building, nor a shipwreck, nor anything expected sat there, but an unexpected entity.

"That... looks like the World Tree... right?"

[It does look like the World Tree. But...]

A tree resembling the World Tree growing vigorously in our shelter.

From its roots, a golden beer river was trickling down.

Above all...

[Is that a person entangled in that trunk?]

In the center of the giant trunk, a person was bound.