WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈

Chapter 121: Sidegrade (1)

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I gave Heavenly Demon a sword as a gift, and I made one for myself too. Like I said before, it was a backup.

Passing Dwarf enjoyed this kind of work too, so we both had fun making it.

Shhhhaaa!

“It’s pretty.”

I gave the sword, sparkling like a luminous star, a brief assessment. It really was a beautiful sword.

It was practical too. It would be especially useful at night.

With this sword, I could secure at least some visibility around me.

I had a Light Crystal Ball, but a glow-in-the-dark sword could do the job more efficiently.

‘Even with barely any mana, it produces aura easily.’

What I liked most was its mana efficiency. I had expected it, but even with little mana poured in, aura rippled over it like flames.

For someone like me, whose weakness was poor stamina, that was like rain after a drought.

Of course, Heavenly Demon’s Sword was ridiculously overpowered, so I would only keep this as a backup. Still, it was excellent.

‘It’ll help with training too.’

Since it used so little mana, it wasn’t hard to control. It was a beginner-friendly sword.

It would be rude to leave it like this. I immediately went to post it on the Gallery...

Then I didn’t.

‘Come to think of it, this could expose Heavenly Demon’s identity, couldn’t it?’

A glow-in-the-dark sword. Heavenly Demon had one too.

She probably wouldn’t make a proof post, but the moment I posted mine, people would figure it out.

It sparkled the instant even a little mana was put into it. There was no way they wouldn’t notice.

If Heavenly Demon’s identity were exposed and she quit the Gallery, it would be a huge loss for me.

She was one of the people who had saved my life, so I’d regret it even more.

It wouldn’t just be a loss. It would be irreplaceable.

‘That was close.’

My carelessness had almost made me lose someone precious.

It seemed best to hide the sword’s existence as much as possible.

If that really became a concern, I could make one out of pure Mithril instead of an alloy, meaning Mislicon.

‘The time... It’s getting close to evening.’

The time I spent gathering crabs and making tools had added up, and dinner was approaching.

I had originally planned to consume an Inner Core, but making all those tools had taken too long.

Besides, Heavenly Demon had said she was going out for the first time in a while to test the sword’s performance.

Hearing that made me wonder if she really did stay shut in and browse the Gallery all day, but I let it go.

‘No matter what, I hope she likes it.’

If she said she didn’t, I was willing to return Heavenly Demon’s Sword to her.

The glow-in-the-dark sword was more than good enough, even if it wasn’t as good as Heavenly Demon’s Sword.

Half hopeful and half worried, I waited for a message from Heavenly Demon.

[Heavenly Demon]: Sir.

[Heavenly Demon]: Are you there?

[Heavenly Demon]: I have returned from testing the sword you gave me.

I had been about to check whether the CCTV had recorded anything.

Since I had left the Gallery window open, I saw Heavenly Demon’s message immediately.

I let out a breath when her message arrived. It was a slightly tense moment.

The sword Heavenly Demon had given me. As its original owner, she was probably skilled with a sword.

That meant she would evaluate the sword I gave her objectively. That was why I was nervous.

[You]: How was it?

[You]: It’s good, right?

[Heavenly Demon]: Would you prefer I say something nice,

[Heavenly Demon]: or would you prefer honesty?

[You]: Honesty, please.

[Heavenly Demon]: A sword can only be called a sword when it cuts what its owner wishes to cut.

[Heavenly Demon]: But this sword goes too far.

[Heavenly Demon]: The saying, “Too much is as bad as too little,” suits it well.

[You]: That doesn’t mean it’s bad, right?

[Heavenly Demon]: It is the opposite.

[Heavenly Demon]: It is so excellent that it may cause damage one does not intend.

I understood roughly what she meant. When preparing ingredients, you should only cut what is on the cutting board.

But the Mislicon sword I gave her would slice clean through not only the ingredients, but the cutting board too!

It was a problem caused by its performance being too good.

[You]: Is it hard to handle?

[Heavenly Demon]: It is a weapon that those incapable of controlling themselves must never wield.

[Heavenly Demon]: But that does not apply to me.

[Heavenly Demon]: This much is easy to handle.

[You]: That’s a relief.

[You]: So it’s not that you dislike it or anything...

[Heavenly Demon]: Not at all.

[Heavenly Demon]: If anything, I am grateful that you gave such a sword so readily.

[You]: It was only natural for me to repay you.

[You]: If the sword breaks, I’ll give you a new one.

[Heavenly Demon]: That will never happen.

[Heavenly Demon]: Every martial artist considers it shameful for their sword to break.

[Heavenly Demon]: And I hate shame.

That was such a Heavenly Demon answer. Her self-esteem seemed pretty high.

What she said didn’t sound like a bluff either. Considering the teachings she had given me, she was clearly highly skilled.

She argued with SwordTasteMaster every day...

Still, they were probably both great people.

[You]: All right.

[You]: Then can I contact you after dinner?

[You]: I’m planning to eat an Inner Core and recite the mnemonic verses then.

[Heavenly Demon]: I shall wait.

After making our promise, I finished what I needed to do. First came the CCTV.

After checking it, I found that luckily, there had been no intruders while I was out gathering crabs.

I had worried that some of the gorillas might come back for revenge, but my fears had been unfounded.

‘And three fish had been caught, too.’

After dealing with dinner, time passed until it was deep into the night.

I sent Heavenly Demon a message saying I was ready.

She must have been online at the time, because she replied right away.

[Heavenly Demon]: As I said before, these mnemonic verses are about entrusting yourself to the flow of the sky.

[Heavenly Demon]: You do not absorb the Inner Core with your body. You entrust your body to the Inner Core’s flow.

[You]: I’ll keep that in mind.

[Heavenly Demon]: Are you ready?

[You]: Just a moment.

The moment I saw her ask whether I was ready, I looked at my hand. A small Inner Core rested in my palm.

Thanks to the storage box I obtained in a trade with Smart Demon, the Inner Core had kept almost its original shape.

‘There’s far more mana in this than in a fish.’

Fish at least had nutrients mixed in with them. This was a lump of pure mana.

If I failed to absorb it properly, I might suffer through another fever like last time.

At least my body had already grown accustomed to mana.

If I had eaten it before my body adjusted to mana, my body might have burst apart, just as Heavenly Demon had said.

‘If I consume this Inner Core completely, I can become stronger.’

And there was more than one. Still, I planned to save a few as emergency food for Fast Sloth.

Everything was difficult the first time, and I barely managed to calm my pounding heart.

I was worried something might go wrong, but all I could do was trust Heavenly Demon’s mnemonic verses.

[You]: I’m ready.

[You]: Please tell me now.

[Heavenly Demon]: You who wish to stand in the sky.

[Heavenly Demon]: Feel the sky fully.

[Heavenly Demon]: Where the sky is headed, and what the sky points toward. You who have sensed the sky.

[Heavenly Demon]: Entrust yourself to the sky.

[Heavenly Demon]: Then...

As Heavenly Demon said, the second set of mnemonic verses was about entrusting myself to the flow of the sky.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles.

The same held true even for the sky. If I understood everything the sky contained, I could claim victory.

Gulp-

I swallowed the Inner Core and began practicing the Inner Energy Cultivation Method. I started with the breathing technique I always used.

Maybe because I had consumed a massive lump of mana, the already powerful flow of mana became increasingly violent.

I wanted to forcefully seize that wild flow, but I failed every time.

It felt like pressing my hand against a spinning wheel and getting scraped raw.

‘Don’t stop it by force. I need to entrust myself fully to the flow.’

I silently recited the mnemonic verses Heavenly Demon had taught me.

Don’t grab the flow with my hand and try to stop it. Just grasp it.

As I grasped it, I had to let my body flow with it and become accustomed to its flow. Understand what it wanted.

Rather than calming the energy with my body, I had to match my body to the energy crashing over me like waves.

‘Like entrusting myself to drifting clouds. Like entrusting myself to flowing water.’

Just as my body slowly began adapting to the energy inside me...

“Snoooore...”

I fell asleep without realizing it.

* * *

I dreamed.

It was a dream of freely gliding through a sky so high it seemed endless. I had dreamed this before.

Back when I was suffering through a terrible fever and reciting the mnemonic verses Heavenly Demon had taught me. I had fallen asleep like I had passed out then too.

The difference this time was my reaction. Instead of amazement, I felt uneasy more than anything.

‘Do I dream every time I learn new mnemonic verses?’

The timing was too strange not to think so.

I would need the same thing to happen again before I could be sure.

For now, I should make good use of this rare opportunity.

‘Let’s see. The sea is over there...’

I looked over every corner of the forest. Since I was floating in the sky, scouting had never been easier.

Was there any doubt this was the Forest of Four Seasons? My shelter was sitting right beneath me, so I recognized it immediately.

Judging by the pitch-black night, it was probably around the same time I had fallen asleep.

‘I can move freely too...’

Unlike last time, I felt something strange.

Even though I was staying still, it felt like something was moving me.

Heavenly Demon’s mnemonic verses came to mind. I closed my eyes and focused.

For a moment, I wondered if I needed to breathe here too.

‘...Something is moving.’

Even though I was still, I could feel a faint movement.

It wasn’t the clouds, the wind, or the animals below.

It was the sky itself, the very sky I was floating in.

I could faintly feel the sky moving.

‘But...’

The problem was that the movements were tangled together in complete disorder.

It wasn’t moving in the direction the planet rotated. It moved however it pleased.

I wondered if such a thing was even possible, but this was the Forest of Four Seasons.

It was a place where even space twisted, so I had to accept it.

‘Still... It seems to flow in a somewhat steady direction within each area.’

The far side of the river and my shelter. Compared together, their movements were a mess.

But when I separated them, I could tell each flowed in a consistent direction.

Even if I knew that, what use was it? I still had a long way to go.

Flash!

Not much time had passed, but the sun was already beginning to rise.

It felt like time was passing abnormally quickly, which caught me off guard.

At the same time, something slowly began pulling me downward.

It was like an alarm telling my soul to wake up because my body was waking up.

I struggled against the sensation of someone tugging on my body, but only for a moment.

“...Huh?”

I could see it clearly.

A lone “tree” standing tall in the distance.

Its presence stood out even in that vast forest, impossible to hide.

I wanted to feel that presence more clearly, but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time.

My body fell toward the shelter.

“Ah.”

The instant I opened my eyes, a dumbfounded sound escaped me.

I felt like I had just seen something, but I couldn’t remember it well. I thought it had been a tree.

I couldn’t tell whether it had been a dream or waking life, which left me confused.

‘...Why does it feel like time passed so quickly?’

There was a lot to think about. I let out a breath and looked around.

It was still early, so Fast Sloth and Wonmo were sleeping soundly.

I crept outside so I wouldn’t wake them.

I didn’t forget to bring Heavenly Demon’s Sword, since I had something to check.

‘Let’s see what changed.’

I had absorbed all the Inner Core’s energy, and I had done it cleanly.

The dream had been unusual too, so there had to be quite a few changes.

Slightly nervous, I slowly poured mana into Heavenly Demon’s Sword.

Whoosh!!!

Flaming aura far larger than before rippled over the sword.

It had once been large enough to cover the entire blade, but now it was nearly twice that size.

The Inner Core and mnemonic verses had worked. But there was one problem...

‘Didn’t SwordTasteMaster say that making it bigger alone was useless?’

SwordTasteMaster had harshly criticized it before. Increasing the size of aura was the height of inefficiency.

Yet I had put in the same amount of mana as before.

The efficiency had clearly increased, but only the weird part had improved.

‘...This really is a sidegrade.’

Should I just be satisfied that the range had increased?

Footnotes:

Glossary collision: 구결 is listed as both “mnemonic verses” and “formula.” It is rendered as “mnemonic verses” here because the text presents it as recited verse-like instruction.

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