I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 78

I had briefly forgotten that this place was a forest.

What is a forest? Isn’t it a place where lush trees, grass, and animals live?

A treasure trove of the ecosystem, where all kinds of flora and fauna live in harmony.

It is only natural for rain to fall in such a place.

The problem is that sometimes it rains way more than expected.

Swaaaaaaa!

The torrential rain pouring outside the cave right now was precisely that.

After doing Internal Energy Regulation all night and taking a brief nap, I had just woken up.

In that short span of time, it was as if a hole had opened in the sky, dumping rain in sheets.

"...Waitwaitwaitwait!"

Stupefied by the rain I hadn’t seen in a while, I belatedly realized I was in big trouble.

First and foremost was the smoked meat, followed by the charcoal.

And finally, the laundry hanging out to dry.

I hadn’t gathered all that charcoal just to lose it all to a single rainstorm.

Same for the smoked food. If rainwater washed away the salt, it’d be a disaster.

"Phew."

Somehow, I retrieved the bucket of charcoal, the smoked meat, and the laundry.

Since it hadn’t been raining for long, they weren’t too soaked.

’Guess I’ll make do with smoked meat for breakfast.’

I could eat fish inside the cave. But the cleanup was a headache.

Outside activities were impossible right now anyway. Even if the rain stopped, outdoor movement would be tough.

The soil would undoubtedly turn into a muddy mess, and the river would swell.

The swelling river was the biggest issue. I might have to change my plans.

Title: Forced Secluded Cultivation begins

Wild Grylls

(Video of rain falling outside the cave)

Woke up this morning to fucking heavy rain, so forced Secluded Cultivation starts now.

Anyone know how to do Secluded Cultivation? Honestly, I just heard the term somewhere so I don’t really know.

└ Heavenly Demon: Secluded Cultivation... A familiar term.

└ Wild Grylls: Any pro tips by any chance?

└ Heavenly Demon: Severing all means of communication—yes, even the Gallery—and focusing solely on martial arts.

└ Wild Grylls: That’s not easy. How many days did you do that for, Heavenly Demon-nim?

└ Heavenly Demon: I did it for a month. Midway, I fell into Qi Deviation and faced a crisis, but thanks to your grace, I survived.

└ Wild Grylls: By the way, quitting the Gallery seems a bit tough;;

└ Heavenly Demon: Nothing is impossible if you focus.

└ Sword Matstar: Secluded Cultivation isn’t bad either. Though quitting the Gallery like Heavenly Demon-nim said is the problem.

└ Wild Grylls: Have you ever done it, Sword Matstar-nim?

└ Sword Matstar: Nope? Aside from when I was learning the sword, my realm never got blocked. I just effortlessly smashed through all bottlenecks.

└ Wild Grylls: ;;;

└ Heavenly Demon: Saying amusing things. So what is your current realm then?

└ Sword Matstar: It’s high, but I don’t really feel the need to break through to the next level.

└ Heavenly Demon: Tsk tsk. Arrogant child. You will regret that.

└ Sword Matstar: Don’t think I’ll have anything to regret. There’s nobody stronger than me anyway lol

└ Heavenly Demon: You know not the height of the heavens, nor the terror of nature. Even though this girl stands atop the heavens, I still revere nature.

└ Sword Matstar: Spoken like a true martial boomer, I have no idea what you’re saying.

└ Heavenly Demon: It means you’ll stay single for the rest of your life.

└ Sword Matstar: What the fuck, are you done talking shit?

└ Wild Grylls: Everyone, please;;

└ Hitting her with a heavy truth bomb holy shit

└ Trash talk born of ancient wisdom;;

└ So is Heavenly Demon married?

└ Heavenly Demon: I have taken no companion. Nor do I have any intention to.

└ Sword Matstar: How old are you?

└ Heavenly Demon: I entered the prime of youth (Bang-nyeon) a year ago.

└ What’s Bang-nyeon?

└ Yak-gwan is age 20 for men, Bang-nyeon is age 20 for women.

└ Bullshit lol With that tone, 20 years old my ass lmao

└ She’s just doing it to tease Sword Matstar lmao

└ Profound Realm at that age? What a joke. Even prodigies only reach Transcendent Realm in their mid-30s.

└ Heavenly Demon: That is because this girl possesses talent bestowed by the heavens.

└ Sword Matstar: It’s not impossible. I became a Sword Master in my early 20s too.

└ Seriously, both of you stop talking shit;;

The comments suddenly went chaotic. Sword Matstar got triggered and was barking back in the comments.

It felt like things were gonna get weird. I needed to quickly intervene.

└ Wild Grylls: Cut it out, you guys. Anyway, a short period of Secluded Cultivation is meaningless, right?

└ Heavenly Demon: At least two weeks must pass for it to hold meaning as Secluded Cultivation. Before that, let me ask one thing.

└ Wild Grylls: Go ahead.

└ Heavenly Demon: Even if you enter Secluded Cultivation, do you have the confidence to not log into the Gallery?

That part made me hesitate a bit.

For about 3 seconds.

└ Wild Grylls: Nope.

└ Heavenly Demon: That was fast.

└ Lmao xxxxx

└ Damn right lol Can’t resist the Gallery lmao

└ Not three visits, but three seconds of thought lol

└ The guy who does Secluded Cultivation while browsing the Gallery is the ultimate psychopath lmaoYou are reading on novelping . com, the official source.

If I had to quit the Gallery to train, I’d rather just train normally.

I was already craving human contact; quitting the Gallery on top of that?

That was equivalent to pulling the oxygen mask off a critical patient.

Looks like Secluded Cultivation was something you only did when you had both temporal and material leisure.

Time aside, I lacked material leisure, so it was better not to do it.

’And who knows when the rain will stop.’

The rain fell endlessly.

Judging by the thick raindrops, it didn’t look like it would stop anytime soon.

Maybe I’d have to scrap the whole morning.

"Wonmo-ya. Eat this today."

"Kyu!"

Wonmo’s meal was monster meat purchased from the auction house.

Since Wonmo ate anything happily, he gobbled it down.

I also settled my breakfast with smoked meat. Speed Sloth’s staple was Fasting Pills.

As I ate, I stared blankly outside the cave. It gave me a strange feeling.

’In the military, I loved rainy days.’

Indoor roll call and work that took place strictly indoors.

Even if there was training, most of the time we just watched videos.

Well, occasionally we had to train wearing poncho raincoats though.

Back then, it felt utterly miserable. I even caught a cold.

Fortunately, the battalion commander was a generous guy and gave me a one-day leave.

How thrilled I was the moment I got that leave. He really was a good man.

’I wonder if the military here is much different?’

A world where people fight with swords and magic instead of guns and artillery.

A system where military power fluctuated depending on individual martial prowess.

What I wanted to know wasn’t each nation’s military power, but how they actually lived.

’Since it’s the Gallery, there must be soldiers too, right?’

I had nothing to do until the rain stopped. Finishing my Internal Cultivation Art, I logged into the Gallery.

Title: There are soldiers here too, right?

Wild Grylls

What do soldiers do when it rains? Just indoor roll call and nothing else?

└ Indoor training is standard, what do you mean work? Why would soldiers do manual labor?

└ Wild Grylls: You don’t even shovel snow?

└ Ah. Clearing trash falling from the sky? That we do. Or clearing fallen leaves from drainage ditches.

└ Usually contractors are called, but in severe cases soldiers are deployed too.

└ But why are you asking about soldiers?

└ Wild Grylls: Rain made me idle, so I thought of the military.

└ ??? You were a soldier?

└ Sword Matstar: No wonder you seemed unusual. Which order did you belong to?

└ Wild Grylls: Republic of Korea.

└ Sword Matstar: Never heard of that name? Is it a knight order in some remote corner?

└ Wild Grylls: It’s my country’s name? And I wasn’t a knight, I just enlisted and got discharged.

└ Sword Matstar: You’re talking nonsense again. But I’ll take your word for it.

└ Wild Grylls: It’s true though.

└ Grylls-yah. Tell us your most fucking terrible military experience then.

└ Wild Grylls: An emergency blew up the day before my leave, so it got cancelled immediately.

└ Valid.

└ Oof lmao xxxxx

└ Anyone would be pissed at that lmao

└ Sword Matstar: But why were you enlisted? Don’t tell me you were at war?

└ Wild Grylls: No, it was an armistice. A divided nation.

└ Sword Matstar: Oh dear;; Forced conscription?

└ Wait, holy shit hold on. Didn’t you say you were an orphan? Why conscript an orphan?

└ That’s weird too. Why would the military...?

└ Did you come here straight from a war? Conscripting orphans is serious.

What kind of misunderstanding were these people having?

Though my country’s military was indeed quite nuts, I enlisted voluntarily.

Usually orphans were exempt, but since the military lacked manpower back then, they just sent people like me anyway.

Since I wasn’t attending college and was wandering aimlessly, I enlisted without complaints.

└ Wild Grylls: I just enlisted as active duty. Looking back, I should’ve re-enlisted long-term.

└ Don’t Abandon the Hero: Um... hang in there!

└ Wild Grylls: All of a sudden?;;

└ If Orange Badge is saying that, just how pathetic is your life?

└ No parents. Joined the military. Now stranded in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

└ A total compilation of a hard-mode life lmao

└ Thinking about it, isn’t every single one of those something you gotta risk your life for?

Suddenly, many people began taking pity on me.

I didn’t really know what misunderstanding they had, but whatever, it didn’t matter.

’Anyway, seems like people living everywhere are pretty similar.’

The fact that the military sucked seemed to be a universal truth.

Chatting about this and that, I looked outside the cave.

The rainfall seemed to have eased up just a tiny bit, but it was still pouring.

’It’s getting chilly.’

Because of the rain, the weather went beyond cool and turned downright frigid.

I grabbed some suitable firewood and lit a campfire.

As the warm heat spread, a pleasant tiredness began to set in.This chapter is updated first at novelping . com.

Wonmo and Bbareumbo also crept over to the campfire to bask in the warmth.

’I might as well train until the rain stops.’

Sitting still like this wasn’t good. I stood up.

To handle the sword and shield more proficiently, training was essential.

Just as I gripped the freshly oiled Sword of the Heavenly Demon and the Adaman-whatever shield—

Ododododo-

Something small scampered into my cave.

At first, I thought it was a rat, but no. Its tail was bushy.

"Kyuung."

"...."

A raccoon. A random raccoon waddled into the cave on two legs.

What it did after walking in was hold its paws out to the campfire.

It was so utterly ridiculous that not only I, but also Wonmo and Bbareumbo, stared blankly.

"...."

"...Wonmo-ya. No."

I quietly stopped Wonmo, who was slowly creeping forward.

Looking at his curious expression, he seemed ready to hunt it at a moment’s notice.

But animals aside, raccoons needed to be handled with caution.

If I caught rabies by accident, I’d be finished.

I didn’t know if the Elixir cured diseases, but you never knew.

’If push comes to shove, Bbareumbo will stop it.’

It seemed best for me to just focus on my training.

If I noticed any signs of Wonmo trying to hunt it, I’d stop him immediately.

By the way, what kind of balls did that raccoon have to just walk into the cave?

Even after seeing us, it was comfortably warming itself by the campfire with a relaxed expression.

’How long is it gonna stay?’

Glancing at the raccoon, I began throwing myself into training.

Learning while carefully reading Sword Matstar’s posts—it was surprisingly easy yet hard at the same time.

She explained things simply, but how should I put it? Text as a medium had clear limitations.

If I had a master beside me it’d be a different story, but since that wasn’t possible, it was tricky.

’Better than nothing.’

Still, Sword Matstar’s posts were highly rated.

Just following along should yield significant results.

Above all, since I set my route toward being a sword-and-shield warrior, concentrating on the basics would be enough.

Let’s stick to the basics.’

Practicing image training, I honed my swordsmanship and shield work simultaneously.

While accelerating the mana inside my body as well. I felt my breathing gradually grow ragged.

’So that breathing unconsciously absorbs mana.’

Gaining mana while breathing. That was the realm I desired.

If so, as long as I had breath left, I could use mana indefinitely.

It was merely theoretical, but the rich mana unique to the Forest of the Four Seasons would make it possible.

"Phew."

Even though the cave was cold bordering on freezing, sweat poured off me in buckets.

Wiping sweat with my sleeve, I looked over at the campfire.

"Hm? Where’d it go?"

It wasn’t near the campfire. Wondering if it was somewhere else, I turned my head.

And I witnessed a hilarious sight.

"Kee-hee-hing."

"...."

The Fasting Pill that had been stuck in Speed Sloth’s claws.

The raccoon plucked that Fasting Pill right out (ssok!) and dashed away giggling (tee-hee!).

A classic case of getting robbed in broad daylight. From Speed Sloth’s perspective, that is.

Tadadat!

The raccoon fled outside faster than anyone.

The rain had stopped at some point, making it the perfect condition to escape.

At this rate, a Fasting Pill would be lost for nothing, but...

Shasag!

Who was Speed Sloth? A creature dead serious about food.

As if teleporting, Speed Sloth closed in right behind the raccoon—

Pook!

And pierced the raccoon’s back with the claws I personally maintained yesterday.

"Kkweeekk!"

"...."

That’s what you get for stealing someone else’s food. I snorted internally.

It should have been grateful just getting to warm up by the campfire, but I didn’t expect it to go and steal.

Chwajwajwajwajak!

Bbareumbo seemed pretty damn pissed off.

Because after impaling it with his claws, he shredded it to ribbons.

The result: a raccoon torn to bits, reduced to something worse than rags.

The funny thing was, even in that state, the Fasting Pill was completely untouched.

"Nom nom nom."

Wonmo greedily devoured the leftover raccoon carcass.

A raw, wild situation in every sense. Shaking my head, I muttered:

’Serves it right.’