I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 57

The number of explosions I had experienced in my life could be counted on one hand.

The first was throwing a hand grenade in the military. That was when I realized what a devastating weapon a grenade truly was.

Aside from that, there was only one: hot oil popping and splashing onto me while cooking.

Laughably pathetic compared to a grenade, but an explosion is an explosion nonetheless.

Why I was indulging in such useless idle thoughts was simple.

"Cough. Cough. What the..."

Never in my life did I expect a fucking heart to explode instead of cooking oil.

Fortunate that sensing bad vibes had made me react quickly; otherwise, I would’ve taken massive damage.

Coughing fitfully, I looked toward where the heart had been placed.

Dugeun! Dugeun! Dugeun!

Making a mockery of the explosion that just occurred, the heart was still beating.

Meanwhile, the surrounding area was blown to smithereens. Everything was utterly ruined.

Thank goodness I had moved the meat-filled jars into the cave; otherwise, I would’ve wept bitter tears.

"Kkeww! Kkew!"

The blast had been so powerful that even Wonmo came scrambling out of the cave.

His eyes, wide and round with panic, couldn’t have been cuter.

I told Wonmo it was nothing and urged him to go back inside to sleep.

Wonmo glanced back and forth between me and the heart with a bewildered expression before lumbering back inside.

’Speed Sloth is... fine.’

Speed Sloth was already clinging to the barricade.

With his singular knack for crisis detection, he had prepared in advance.

Aside from the immediate vicinity of the heart turning into a disaster zone, everything was intact.

’Fuck. Even Chinese knockoffs wouldn’t have exploding hearts.’

Even Chinese goods, infamous for exploding at the slightest touch, wouldn’t pull something like this.

It’s not like the heart was rigged with explosives; I couldn’t comprehend it for the life of me.

What do you do at a time like this? You ask the Gallery, of course.

Title: The heart exploded

Wild Grylls

(Photo of intact heart and wrecked surroundings)

Tried to cut open the heart like Allfather suggested and the fucking heart exploded.

But the heart itself is completely fine;; Anyone know why this is happening?

Living long enough to see an exploding heart;;

ㄴHeavenly Demon) An exploding heart is something I have never heard of. Perhaps it contains an excessive amount of Internal Energy.

ㄴWild Grylls) Does it explode if it holds too much Internal Energy?

ㄴHeavenly Demon) If the vessel cannot withstand it, it bursts. But considering the tiger was alive and well, that heart is not such a case. A wondrous heart indeed.

ㄴSword Matstar) How did the tiger even harbor that heart inside its body? Truly fascinating.

ㄴAllfather Did you perhaps use aura when trying to slice open the heart?

ㄴWild Grylls) It was so tough I had no choice. Is that a problem?

ㄴAllfather Such a phenomenon ought to be impossible unless it were a Dragon Heart... Strange. Furthermore, the radius of the explosion was quite small.

ㄴWild Grylls) How powerful is a Dragon Heart?

ㄴAllfather It varies depending on the individual and its growth, but an adult’s heart could blow up an entire small city.

ㄴWild Grylls) Shivers

Biological nuke or what? I let out a dry laugh.

But sadly, what I hunted wasn’t a dragon, but a tiger. A tiger the size of a city bus.

If a dragon had ambushed me, I would’ve died before even knowing what hit me.

ㄴAllfather Still, it is peculiar. Although smaller in scale, this phenomenon only occurs with a Dragon Heart...

ㄴHeavenly Demon) Is not a dragon equivalent to a dragon in the Central Plains?

ㄴAllfather Yes. That is correct.

ㄴHeavenly Demon) In the Central Plains, there exists the idiom Yong-ho-sang-bak—a clash of dragon and tiger. It refers to rivals whose superiority is hard to judge. Given that tigers are revered as ’Mountain Lords’, is it not plausible?

ㄴHey Heavenly Demon. You don’t know the difference between a Western dragon and an Eastern dragon, do you?

ㄴHeavenly Demon) What difference is there? In the end, both are dragons.

ㄴ(Photo of Dragon) This is a dragon, and (Photo of Eastern Dragon) this is a dragon. See the difference now?

ㄴHeavenly Demon) They look quite similar. Are they relatives?

ㄴSigh;;

ㄴShe’s ignorant as fuck, right?

ㄴYeah looks like it.

ㄴAllfather An intriguing perspective. Just as Heavenly Demon-nim said, dragons and Eastern dragons share many similarities. From a species standpoint, they are indeed related.

ㄴFor real? Learning this for the first time

ㄴIs that true? That’s a highly controversial topic in academia.

ㄴAllfather It is the same logic as termites being taxonomically closer to cockroaches or praying mantises.

ㄴAh lmfao

ㄴExplaining it like that makes total sense lol

ㄴAllfather At any rate, as Heavenly Demon-nim mentioned that tigers are comparable to dragons in the Central Plains, it may not be impossible. Ah, my nether regions are already throbbing with excitement.

ㄴWhy the fuck are your nether regions throbbing lmfaoRead the latest chapters at novelping(.)com.

ㄴLeave him be. He’s a professor. He’s just turned on by a new research topic.

ㄴTo a professor, research material IS sex lmfao

ㄴWild Grylls) So what do I do with this? Just leave it?

ㄴAllfather Pardon my boldness, but would it be possible to lend me that heart briefly? I will return it right after completing my research.

ㄴWild Grylls) What about after you’re done researching?

ㄴAllfather I will process it so that you can absorb all the mana contained within that heart. Since having research material is reward enough for me, you need not pay any extra fee. In fact, I should be paying you.

ㄴWild Grylls) No, just take it. I don’t even wanna look at that hideous thing;;

ㄴAllfather Thank you. Thanks to you, Grylls-ssi, life has felt truly worth living lately. Hehehe.

I immediately traded with Allfather and handed over the heart.

Leaving it lying around was terrifying since I didn’t know when it might explode, nor did I have a way to store it.

It was better to hand such things over to Allfather to use as research material.

’I also got this as a bonus.’

I received pills conferring poison resistance from Allfather as well.

With so much to do today, I made do with Fasting Pills for lunch.

Having dealt with lunch, I circulated my Internal Cultivation Art as usual.

’Strange. It feels faster than yesterday?’

The movement of circulating mana within me was unusual. It felt significantly faster.

Questions arose, but I couldn’t find anything problematic.

Rather, a refreshing sensation washed over me, making me want to keep going.

’Is it because I fought to the brink of death?’

Purely speculation on my part. Since fundamentals were what mattered anyway, I didn’t care much about speed.

Now that I finished the Internal Cultivation Art, my next task was to wait until Starlight Lady posted her thread.

’I barely finished clearing up, and now one explosion made me start all over.’

First, I thoroughly cleaned up the vicinity trashed by the heart explosion.

Fortunately, no major structural collapses were visible...

"No, fuck! My charcoal!!!"

Now I noticed the charcoal I had painstakingly gathered was blown away. Tears sprang to my eyes.

I managed to gather the scattered charcoal around, but saving a third of it was the absolute best I could do.

An impulse to just buy some from the Auction House surged, but I barely suppressed it.

’Right. I’m going to smoke meat soon anyway...’

Think positive. A negative mindset is bad.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling bitter. Wearing a dry smile, I prepped firewood.

How much work would it take to turn this firewood into charcoal again?

A sigh slipped out naturally, but I brushed it off and moved on.

’Let’s use the remaining charcoal to wash the hide and clothes first.’

I planned to use the hide as a mat or blanket.

Since butchering was completely new to me, the quality of the hide was poor. Furthermore, parts were cut by the Sword of the Heavenly Demon.

Giving this to Praise the Sun in exchange for a new shield? That’d be shameless as hell.

’I need to trim the hide a bit. It’s too big.’

It’s inconvenient when washing and drying. Trimming is essential.

Having finished roughly cleaning the hide, I logged into the Gallery for a moment.

To check if Starlight Lady had posted her thread.

’She posted.’

It was pinned right at the top of the forum board. I entered without hesitation.

Title: How to smoke meat (Cold smoking)

Starlight Lady

(Illustration of setting up a tripod)

(Illustration of starting fire underneath tripod)

(Illustration of placing meat on tripod)

Hello, Grylls-ssi!

As I mentioned earlier, I will teach you how to perform smoking—specifically cold smoking!

Smoking meat that has had its moisture drawn out by salt, like yours, is called cold smoking.

Simply set up a tripod like in the picture above, light a fire underneath, and hang the meat! Super easy, right?

However, it would be best to cover the surrounding tripod with something like cloth so the smoke does not escape.

Another point to be careful of is that you must not dry the meat at excessively high temperatures. A warm feeling is quite sufficient.

If this was helpful, please leave a comment. As I always say, thank you so much for saving my life.

ㄴWild Grylls) Thank you so much for letting me know. Leaving an upvote!

ㄴStarlight Lady) Thank you hehe glad it helped. If I get the chance, I will craft more Elixirs for you.

ㄴWild Grylls) Uh... do you need another Mature Mandrake?

ㄴStarlight Lady) No, it’s for Wonmo hehe

ㄴWild Grylls) Ah, right. I see.

Giving it to Wonmo, huh? I felt a bit taken aback, but didn’t dwell on it.

Right now, setting up the smoker as Starlight Lady instructed was the priority.

’I’ll need decently sized timber. If all else fails, I’ll chop it myself.’

Logging was no longer difficult for me. A few swings with an axe and it was done.

I found trees perfect for the job and set them up in a tripod structure.This chapter was copied from novel‌ping.com without permission.

To prevent it from collapsing, I bound the top apex tightly with rope.

I also bought cloth to wrap around the exterior from the Auction House. Expenses were piling up heavy today.

Normally I would have bought blankets too, but having the hide made up for it.

’Just hang the meat here, and done.’

Finally, I tied the meat with rope and hung it in the center. All preparations were complete.

However, I ran into an unforeseen issue—namely, the sheer volume.

Given how astronomical the amount of tiger meat was, I couldn’t help but worry.

’To store it, I have to smoke all of it...’

To do that, I needed to set up far more tripods.

’Screw it, let’s do it.’

If it meant preserving meat for a long time, what couldn’t I do?

I constructed about five more tripods. In truth, even this wasn’t enough.

Still, the only reason I stopped here was a lack of space.

Tadak! Tadadak! Ttak!

Beneath each tripod, I lit firewood to generate smoke.

Before long, smoke billowed up and wrapped around the salt-cured meat.

Wrapped in cloth, surprisingly little smoke leaked out. Had I known, I would have built this sooner.

’Well, knowing now is good enough.’

I quietly gazed at the meat gradually cloaked in smoke.

What would have happened to me without the Gallery? Wouldn’t I have died ten times over by now?

Why was I dropped into the Forest of the Four Seasons, and on top of that, granted access to the Gallery?

Unresolved mysteries tangled together like a ball of yarn. But I had no intention of unraveling them. To be precise, I lacked the bandwidth.

Survival was what mattered right now. Escaping this place by any means necessary came first.

’I shouldn’t get complacent.’

Don’t lose what’s precious by taking comfort for granted. I recited to myself.

Besides, didn’t this whole ordeal make me realize just how safe civilization was?

This was merely a temporary rest; my determination to escape remained unyielding.

’Get up. Get up and harvest mandrakes.’

The dwarf will send a trade request soon.

Even if I couldn’t give him crabs, I ought to at least hand over a Mature Mandrake.

Having just completed a trade with Allfather, I had to wait out the 24-hour cooldown period once again.

’If nothing else, I really wish they’d reduce the trade cooldown.’

Orange Badge had a stubborn personality, making her hard to persuade.

Offering a bribe didn’t feel like something she would accept either.

’Isn’t there any way?’

A way to shorten the trade cooldown even by a little bit.

Kwa-a-a-ang!

A massive explosion erupted alongside a flash of blue light.

The scale of the explosion was neither large nor small, but its power was terrifying.

Not quite enough to scorch the entire earth, but more than sufficient to wreck everything in its vicinity.

"Cough! Cough! Ahem."

Yet the mage who took the explosion head-on merely coughed slightly and remained completely unscathed.

Although a bit of soot stained his snow-white beard, it meant little.

The mage waved his hand, fanning away the smoke.

Then, squinting his eyes open, he looked forward.

Dugeun! Dugeun! Dugeun!

At the epicenter of the explosion rested a heart far larger than a human head.

Throbbing vigorously, unbothered by the blast that had just occurred.

Standing brazenly as if to say such an impact was nowhere near enough to faze it.

Kung-kung!

[Kadir-nim! Are you alright!]

[Are you injured anywhere?! We heard a dangerous noise!]

Several people knocked urgently on the door.

An explosion bursting out out of nowhere naturally triggered such a reaction.

"I am fine, so step back. I was merely conducting a new experiment."

The mage lightly dismissed the concerned crowd.

Worried voices still echoed beyond the door, but the mage’s attention had already shifted elsewhere.

"Goodness..."

The mage gazed at the heart with an awe-struck expression.

The heart continued to throb violently, as if flaunting its ongoing perfection.

"What a magnificent heart this is!"

A thirst for knowledge flickered within the mage’s eyes.