WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 138: Combination (1)
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[Post] The Ice-Snow Flower supposedly froze your body solid, like ice in a stone icehouse, if you consumed it as is.
[Post] If you moved it somewhere else and the temperature changed even a little, it would melt away like snow.
[Post] But if you adjusted it properly before consuming it, you could gain strong resistance to cold.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Is there a way to process it?
└ [Starlight Princess]: Maybe with the technology in my workshop, but I’m not sure about your environment, Wild Grylls. Even if you brought it to my workshop, it would melt right away.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Is there any way I can do it myself?
└ [Starlight Princess]: The important thing is controlling its cold energy... To reduce the cold energy, you need fire energy. And no, you can’t boil it like soup.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Tch... Could you at least explain the principle simply?
I wanted to consume it somehow. Cold resistance was an enormous advantage.
It was so cold that even thick clothes couldn’t keep out the chill.
They only provided enough protection to keep me from freezing to death.
If I could absorb the Ice-Snow Flower, it would give me a huge survival advantage.
‘At least I’d have almost no chance of dying from hypothermia.’
Just not having to shiver in the cold would be enough. You got stronger by building up things like this one at a time.
Starlight Princess seemed to think for a while and didn’t comment.
Just as I wondered whether she was busy with something else, she replied.
└ [Starlight Princess]: You put the Ice-Snow Flower into an extractor, then add fire energy to the liquid it extracts. The principle itself is simple.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Can I even use that extractor?
└ [Starlight Princess]: It needs to be connected through mana circuits, like a refrigerator. If I gave it to you, Grylls, it would just become an empty can.
└ [Wild Grylls]: T_T
└ [Starlight Princess]: I hate to say this, but I think it would be best if you gave up.
└ [Wild Grylls]: So I can’t put it in a pot and boil it?
└ [Starlight Princess]: Hmm... I’ve never tried such a primitive method, so I don’t really know. That’s the only extraction method I know.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Didn’t people in the past eat it and record its effects? They wouldn’t have had extractors back then.
└ [Starlight Princess]: Why would anyone do that? Their lives would be at risk;;
└ [Wild Grylls]: Then why do people eat pufferfish?
└ [Starlight Princess]: Ah.
└ That’s a fucking perfect example lol
└ Who was the first bastard to decide to eat a pufferfish? lol
└ Seriously. One mistake and the poison kills you instantly.
└ I’m more curious about whoever first thought of milk. How did they decide to suck on an animal’s tits...?
└ Stuff like that piled up and became our food. Let’s show them some respect.
└ Not admiration, respect? What are you even saying lol
People really were strange. They ate every kind of plant and animal imaginable.
They even found ways to prepare poisonous ones.
People must have gone through a long and difficult process before figuring out how to eat pufferfish safely.
The Ice-Snow Flower was the same. Starlight Princess hadn’t considered this part, but it was what I focused on.
The Ice-Snow Flower was a delicate herb that melted the instant the temperature changed even slightly.
Yet there were records of people consuming it and confirming either its effects or its side effects.
That meant people living in cold regions had figured it out through repeated testing.
‘There may not be records of anyone extracting it, but they definitely consumed it somehow.’
They most likely extracted it without tools, or consumed it after it had somehow been refined.
Of course, this was only my hypothesis.
Someone who had read only one book was more dangerous than someone who had never read at all.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Then should I post updates in real time? If something seems wrong, tell me right away.
└ [Starlight Princess]: That’s not a bad idea. But you have to listen to everything I say. Understood?
└ [Wild Grylls]: Of course. The stone icehouse comes first, so I’ll update you later.
└ [Starlight Princess]: Just please don’t overdo it.
└ [Passing Dwarf]: Hey. You have Mithril in your home, right? A stone icehouse has to be built underground.
└ [Wild Grylls]: It doesn’t have to be built inside. I can build it outside. There’s no Mithril outside.
└ [Passing Dwarf]: Then do you know which way the wind blows? In summer, not winter.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Why?
└ [Passing Dwarf]: Because you have to use convection. Cold air settles at the bottom, and hot air rises.
└ [Wild Grylls]: I don’t know. I’m making a temporary one anyway, so just tell me the principle. It only needs to last a month. The seasons here change every week.
└ [Passing Dwarf]: What kind of fucked-up place is that;; Fine. I’ll make a post soon.
Now I had to know the direction of the wind too. Ridiculous.
At least the seasons changed every week. If they changed every month, this would have been a real headache.
In that case, I should make the stone icehouse as a prototype and get a box for everything else.
SwordTasteMaster had said they would give me a box made from well-insulated material, so I could use that once I got it.
‘It’d feel a little wrong to just accept it...’
What should I give in return? SwordTasteMaster was honestly the hardest to please.
Heavenly Demon gladly accepted whatever I gave her, but SwordTasteMaster wasn’t like that.
They didn’t want herbs because they had no desire to get stronger, and they barely had any interest in food either.
They only cared about my growth, so I had no idea how to repay them.
‘Would they like a sword if I gave them one?’
They liked swordsmanship so much they practically loved it, so surely they would like swords too. That was my logic.
They say a true master can work with any tool, but that didn’t mean they didn’t care about them at all.
Maybe they even liked pretty swords.
‘I’ll think about that later. First, I need to understand the stone icehouse structure.’
I had plenty of time to think. What I lacked was time to build.
The avalanche had swept everything away, and there was a lot I needed to make.
‘Should I build a sturdy blast furnace or oven from scratch? Or put one in the cave?’
As I thought about it, I sent SwordTasteMaster a message.
I offered to give them an extremely good sword later if they gave me an insulated box.
[SwordTasteMaster]: Is that sword the one you gave Heavenly Demon?
[You]: Huh?
[You]: Did I tell you about it before?
[SwordTasteMaster]: She sent me photos and bragged about it;;
[You]: ;;
Someone her age, acting so childish. Still, since she hadn’t made a Gallery post about it, I supposed it was fine.
And considering she had bragged only to SwordTasteMaster, she seemed to consider them a friend.
SwordTasteMaster would lose their mind if they heard that, but it would be fine.
[You]: Anyway, it’s something I’ll give you later. Will you accept it?
[SwordTasteMaster]: It’s fine.
[SwordTasteMaster]: They say a true master can work with any tool.
[You]: It’s a sword that glows when you put mana into it, though?
[SwordTasteMaster]: It’s fine to keep one as decoration instead of for actual use.
It was a sword with excellent performance, yet they would only use it as decoration. Still, I was relieved they would accept it.
Trading an insulated box for a Mislicon sword wasn’t exactly a fair deal, but that was fine.
I only had to consider all the help SwordTasteMaster had given me. They had helped me almost for free until now.
‘Heavenly Demon might feel left out, so I should get her something separately.’
With that in mind, I checked the box SwordTasteMaster had given me.
Maybe because plastic hadn’t been invented in SwordTasteMaster’s world yet, it looked like an ordinary box from the outside.
Inside, though, the walls were lined with various materials, including marble.
Seeing all the layers, it seemed certain to work as an icebox.
Now I only had to put ice inside.
I carried the box indoors and thanked SwordTasteMaster.
‘The dwarf... made a post.’
Right on time, Passing Dwarf had uploaded one. I immediately opened it.
[Post title] Here’s the structure of a stone icehouse. Take a look.
[Author] Passing Dwarf
[Post] (Photo of a stone icehouse structure)
[Post] (Photo of a stone icehouse cross-section)
[Post] (Photo of a stone icehouse surrounded by bricks)
[Post] (Photo of an arched brick ceiling)
[Post] It looks roughly like this. It’ll take a long time if you want to build it properly, so take it slow.
[Post] When you put in the ice, stuff snow or straw between the pieces. Buy a mat from the Auction House and take it apart for straw.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Wait. I have to make the ceiling out of bricks too? How am I supposed to do that?
└ [Passing Dwarf]: How else? Figure it out.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Ha. This is going to be fucking brutal.
└ Where did you take these photos? I get the cross-section, but those look like real pictures.
└ [Passing Dwarf]: They were from a museum?
└ Grylls is living alone in a museum lol
└ Everyone else uses refrigerators, but Grylls is using a stone icehouse alone lol
People who had barely reached the modern age were calling me primitive.
I used to enjoy all the fruits of civilization too, you know.
They would shit themselves if they saw the power of nuclear weapons. How dare they make fun of me?
‘So what can I actually do?’
There was nothing I could do, so I should shut up and build the stone icehouse.
Grumbling to myself, I got a pickaxe and shovel ready.
Given the time, I didn’t expect to finish the work in a day.
‘It was supposed to be semi-underground, right?’
Normally, I would have to consider the wind direction, but this was a test model.
It was the first step toward seeing whether it could preserve things for a month.
I planned to make it small to reduce the labor, but build it carefully.
‘The ground is frozen, so this isn’t easy.’
Just digging took a long time.
It would be better to light a campfire and work on other things while it thawed the frozen ground.
I dug until around four o’clock, then stopped.
There were other things to do, and I needed to extract the Ice-Snow Flower.
‘I’ll spend thirty minutes harvesting ice, then get ready to process the Ice-Snow Flower.’
Carrying the insulated box, I headed for the river.
It was a cold winter, so animal activity had become very sparse.
Unless it was something active even in winter, like a wolf, I wasn’t likely to be attacked.
I stayed alert just in case, so I wouldn’t get caught off guard either.
‘A saw should work, right?’
Once I reached the frozen river, I bought a saw from the Auction House.
I struck the ice’s surface with the small hammer I had brought, then drove the saw in.
Scrape! Scrape! Scrape!
I started sawing out a precise square.
Looking closer, the river wasn’t frozen solid all the way through. In places, the saw suddenly broke through.
Keeping that in mind, I sawed carefully.
“Heave-ho!”
Splaash!
I lifted out a neatly cut rectangular block of ice. The empty space immediately filled with river water.
Crackle!
That water didn’t stay liquid for long either, freezing solid in the vicious cold.
Just how cold was it for it to freeze that fast?
I struggled to carry the clear block of ice and placed it in the box.
I had noticed it the moment I harvested it, but the ice was ridiculously thick.
‘Could I go ice fishing too?’
It was a pointless thought, so I let it go.
I harvested ice while keeping watch in case something like a Golden Frog popped out.
Fortunately, the frogs had either all frozen to death or gone into hibernation. There was no reaction.
It looked like winter was the season when I could live with the most peace of mind.
“Ugh. It stings.”
That didn’t stop my hands from aching with cold.
I was wearing gloves over my World Tree Gloves, making two layers total, but my hands were still freezing.
Cold moisture had seeped all the way inside. If I wasn’t careful, I would get frostbite.
I hurriedly finished the work and returned to the cave. I had collected four blocks of ice in total.
For now, I placed them in the box, but once the stone icehouse was finished, I would store them there.
‘There’s... enough time.’
With the ice collected, the Ice-Snow Flower was all that remained.
Someone might ask why I couldn’t just process the Ice-Snow Flower in the cave, but I had an idea.
It was the Adult Mandrake. The Adult Mandrake was a plant that contained yang energy.
And I had heard that yang energy represented heat.
Wouldn’t it work if I boiled the cold Ice-Snow Flower together with an Adult Mandrake?
Thump! Thud! Thud!
“Guek! Gyaek! Kuek!”
That was why I beat up the Adult Mandrake. You had to beat this thing first to make it behave.
I carried the limp Adult Mandrake back to the cave.
Then I got a suitable pot ready and lit a campfire.
The moment the fire caught, I made a post on the Gallery.
[Post title] Ice-Snow Flower and Adult Mandrake Combination
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] (Photo of a beaten-up Adult Mandrake)
[Post] (Photo of an Ice-Snow Flower that has not yet been harvested)
[Post] Wouldn’t these work if I combined them?
└ [Heavenly Demon]: The theory itself doesn’t seem bad. It’s an appropriate combination of yang and yin.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Right?
└ [Starlight Princess]: Like Heavenly Demon said, the theory isn’t bad. It does seem a little... crude, though.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Should I just put them in together and boil them?
└ [Starlight Princess]: That would be better. Extracting their essence dilutes their energy somewhat. It would be better to boil them raw.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Yep.
I had the expert’s permission, so I harvested the Ice-Snow Flower.
Fortunately, human body temperature didn’t seem to affect it, as it remained perfectly intact.
‘Now, put them in together.’
I would add a little water and steep them together like broth.
With the lid on, all the preparations were complete. Now all that remained was to wait.
I didn’t forget to check occasionally for anything unusual.
└ [Wild Grylls]: (Video of the Ice-Snow Flower and Adult Mandrake still unchanged) Nothing has changed so far. The Ice-Snow Flower hasn’t melted either.
└ [Starlight Princess]: They are both rare herbs, so that may be why. It would be best to wait patiently.
How long would I have to steep them before something changed? I added another log.
I wanted to work on something else, but I had no idea what might happen.
As I sat there staring into the fire...
Clatter!
The pot lid suddenly rattled.
-Kieeeek!!!
As a bonus, a Mandrake’s scream came from inside.
Had it woken up in the middle of this? That would be a problem.
‘Do I need to beat it unconscious again?’
I pressed down hard on the lid so the Adult Mandrake couldn’t leap out.
The moment I opened it, the Mandrake’s scream would fill the entire cave.
Still holding it down, I logged into the Gallery and urgently asked for advice.
└ [Wild Grylls]: (Video of a pot leaking screams) I think the Mandrake woke up. What should I do? I’m holding it down for now.
└ [Starlight Princess]: It’s not good for it to keep screaming either. Even if you have to take the risk, it would be better to knock it unconscious again.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Understood.
After receiving the expert’s advice, I took a deep breath. The timing had to be right.
The Adult Mandrake didn’t scream continuously. It screamed every so often.
It would fall silent, then scream again, over and over. I had to wait until it was quiet.
-Kieeeek!!!
Before long, the Mandrake screamed again.
I waited for it to go silent, then immediately opened the lid.
And what I saw was...
“...What is this?”
The Adult Mandrake had turned blue.
Its face was blue like a corpse’s, yet it was alive and writhing.
It had originally been red, so seeing it blue made the sight even more shocking.
‘Did they fuse instead of combine?’
Footnotes:
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