WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 77: Joy of Life (3)
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Now that I’d neatly trimmed Fast Sloth’s claws, I went looking for Wonmo.
But seeing him sleep so soundly, I felt bad about waking him.
Besides, he was still a cub, so he probably didn’t need his claws trimmed yet.
‘That’s everything taken care of...’
I checked the time. It was four in the afternoon.
Dinner would be soon. Until then, I could study SwordTasteMaster’s posts.
If I read through them carefully and got some practice in, it’d be dinner time.
‘When will my fundamentals ever improve?’
The fight with the Guardian had driven it home. I was surviving entirely on overpowered gear.
Without Heavenly Demon’s Sword, I never could’ve stabbed the Guardian’s Core.
I wasn’t some swordsman straight out of a comic. I couldn’t even cut stone with physical strength alone.
Still, this was a fantasy world. Maybe some people could cut stone using physical strength alone, without mana.
Curious, I made a post in the gallery.
[Post title] Can you cut stone with a sword without mana?
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] Usually, mana strengthens your body, right?
[Post] So if you don’t have mana, does that mean you’re no different from a normal person?
[Post] Normal people can’t cut stone or slice through metal with a sword, can they?
└ [Heavenly Demon]: It depends on the situation. If one’s dantian is completely destroyed, they are no different from an ordinary person. As long as the dantian remains intact, they can display great strength even in everyday life.
└ [Wild Grylls]: But you’d still need techniques to match that strength, right?
└ [Heavenly Demon]: Naturally. Power without technique is bound to scatter. Technique helps concentrate one’s power at a single point.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Then does that mean you can do it, Heavenly Demon?
└ [Heavenly Demon]: I am still lacking, but I can cut an opponent through mental will alone. This is called the Mind Sword.
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Ignore that martial arts fossil’s last comment. Anyway, anyone above a certain level is basically a weapon even using physical strength alone, so it should be possible.
└ [Wild Grylls]: What counts as “a certain level”?
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: The level where you can use Aura Blade unconsciously? Where mana affects your body enough to slow even aging.
└ [Wild Grylls]: That doesn’t mean Swordmaster, does it?
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Excluding mass-produced Swordmasters.
└ What do you mean mass-produced? lol A Swordmaster is a Swordmaster lol
└ This is all Ash’s fault. That bastard got every other Swordmaster mocked as mass-produced lol
└ They’re responsible for a nation’s military might, and they’re “mass-produced” lol
└ If they were mass-produced, everyone and their dog would be one;;;
└ [Wild Grylls]: So it’s impossible to reach that level just by learning the fundamentals?
└ [Heavenly Demon]: Considering your talent, it is not impossible. However, without a master to guide you, it will likely take time.
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Still, if you keep reading my posts, you’ll be able to master the fundamentals. I can promise you that.
└ [Wild Grylls]: So growing stronger in a short time is impossible in the end.
└ [Heavenly Demon]: It is not impossible. The more a martial artist fights, the stronger they become. You are stranded in a place filled with danger, so if you survive each crisis, you should reach that level quickly.
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Heavenly Demon, that kind of sounds like you’re telling them to die, doesn’t it?;;
└ [Heavenly Demon]: There is a difference in how one says things. I have no doubt that you will survive until the end.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Uh... I think that was encouragement, so thanks.
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: There’s another way to grow stronger quickly!
└ [Wild Grylls]: What is it?
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Believe in the goddess! In Lady Aris, the Goddess of War and Wisdom!
└ [Wild Grylls]: I don’t like gods.
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: What?! That sounds like blasphemy! Why don’t you like them?!
└ [Wild Grylls]: I was living fine when my parents died in an accident. After that, I clawed my way through life, only to get dropped into the Forest of Four Seasons. Of course I want to curse them out.
└ Just commit blasphemy already;;
└ I feel so sorry for them. What kind of life is that? lol
└ [Head Mod]: Are you a holy knight by any chance?
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Something like that! I got kicked out because of a misunderstanding, though!
God, huh. Head Mod’s words left me lost in thought.
I didn’t follow any particular religion. That didn’t make me an atheist, though.
Even before I was suddenly dropped into the Forest of Four Seasons, I tended to believe gods existed.
That way, I could curse them out to my heart’s content.
If I had to hate someone, wasn’t it better to hate a god than a person?
If a god struck me with divine punishment for swearing, that’d just prove they were petty. I’d curse them even harder.
‘If nobody’s watching, I’ll curse out the president too.’
I believed in gods so I could hate them. It was kind of ironic.
Still, that mindset was what had kept me clawing my way through life, so it wasn’t all bad.
‘For now, is training my only answer?’
My mana felt like it was constantly increasing, but I still couldn’t get a feel for Aura Blade.
If anything, there was so much mana that it was hard to control.
Maybe it was because I was from Earth. Since I was born differently, shouldn’t I need a different training method too?
The fact that I could sense mana at all was close to a miracle.
‘...This is going to take a long time.’
To escape the Forest of Four Seasons, I needed to become stronger.
Yet to become that strong, I at least had to learn how to use Aura Blade.
And learning Aura Blade might take a long time.
That meant I needed to prepare myself to live in the Forest of Four Seasons for a long while.
‘As long as I escape eventually.’
With that resolve, I closed the gallery.
Head Mod seemed to be saying something to me, but I easily ignored it.
Things like, you can’t commit blasphemy, no matter how hard life gets, you shouldn’t curse gods, and so on.
They seemed like a devout believer. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.
‘It’s not like gods put food on my table.’
Besides, there were far more things to worry about in the world than gods.
Ah. That didn’t mean I looked down on religious people or anything.
I couldn’t think of anyone more admirable than a devout believer.
They embodied the essence of self-sacrifice. Why would I insult them?
‘It’s not people that I hate.’
My parents had been good people, and everyone helping me now was a good person too.
There were occasionally rude assholes, but I wasn’t the kind to take it lying down.
‘When you think about it, the gallery is strange too.’
I knew all too well how ugly people could become under the cover of anonymity.
Where I came from, a pen could kill someone.
Compared to that, even though the gallery was full of desires, there were few personal attacks.
An occasional weird dwarf lady would show up, but the other races just let it slide. Only dwarves reacted.
The same went for beastfolk. At that point, it was hard to see it as anything but a difference in taste.
‘I want to go home.’
I glanced at the cave wall.
Tomorrow would already be my tenth day here. It didn’t feel like I’d done much, yet time had flown by.
I hadn’t explored many places, and animals attacked every so often, so it was giving me a headache.
‘Where should I go tomorrow?’
I turned to the side. There was a map crudely drawn on a large sheet of white paper.
The river that was practically my lifeline, the lakeshore connected to it, the Adult Mandrake colony, the mushroom cave, the Orichalcum cave, and more.
Looking at it like this, I had been to quite a few places. Though one was only found by accident while looking for runaway Wonmo.
‘Following the river downstream only leads to the lake, so I should establish a starting point.’
I stared at the map and thought it over. It was time to plan out my exploration.
If I was going to be here for a long time, I needed to search thoroughly.
I should also put up Signposts along the way so I didn’t get lost.
Going around the lake was impossible. If a giant crab appeared, I’d die.
‘Or should I follow the river upstream?’
That wasn’t a bad option.
There was no rule saying the river had only one branch.
Even if this was upstream, it might split into two, no, several tributaries somewhere along the way.
‘It’d be best to check what’s at the end of each branch.’
Downstream was the lake, but I had no idea what lay upstream.
Picking a definite route would be better than wandering around everywhere.
After roughly setting my plans for tomorrow, I checked the time.
It was already nearly five.
I should head up to the river and see whether I’d caught any fish.
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
“...”
I spoke to Fast Sloth and stepped outside the cave.
I also put up the iron fence in case something happened.
Then I armed myself and headed for the river.
A pack of otters had appeared just this afternoon, so I had to stay alert.
Splash! Splash!
“What? Three?”
I checked the Fish Trap and found three fish inside.
One golden fish and two red fish.
I wondered if that was even possible in such a short time.
‘A good thing’s a good thing.’
The more food I had, the better. Humming, I pulled up the Fish Trap.
While I was hauling it in, I watched my surroundings in case something attacked.
The otters had died not long ago. Something might have come after smelling the blood.
‘Let’s get back quickly.’
Once I collected the Fish Trap, I hurried back to the cave.
I was so scared something would chase me that I even used mana.
When I got back, I put the fish in the iron container.
There were three of them, so even that filled the container.
‘One can be breakfast tomorrow.’
If every day could be like this... No. What did I mean, every day could be like this?
Getting out of here quickly came first, so stop thinking weird thoughts. I shook my head hard.
‘Until I escape.’
Right. That was the mindset I needed.
I went back up to the river to set up the Fish Trap, then started preparing dinner.
Wonmo, who had been napping, must have realized dinner was near because he slowly crawled out.
He was so cute, coming over with sleepy eyes. Every time I saw him, it felt like my heart was healing.
Sizzle!
I gave Wonmo one cleaned fish and cooked the other as usual.
A little salt was all it took to make delicious fish.
No matter how often I ate it, I never got tired of the taste. It felt like I was eating premium beef instead of fish.
‘Why is it tastier than tiger meat?’
Maybe it was because the tiger meat had been smoked.
After dinner, I began practicing my cultivation method.
I didn’t forget to take the medicine Allfather had given me either.
“There, there. Wonmo, try to catch this.”
“Kyuuu! Kyuu!”
Once everything was done, I played with Wonmo.
I tied some cloth to a stick and waved it around.
I’d seen pet owners play with cats like this on YouToob sometimes.
Wonmo wasn’t a cat, but I’d heard it could help improve his hunting skills.
Thud!
“Kyah!”
“Oof!”
Well. We occasionally ran into each other, but it was bearable.
He was still a small cub. He’d grown since I first saw him, but he was still a cub.
“Kyuuu! Kyuu!”
“Hehe.”
I hugged Wonmo close and rubbed my face against him before quietly letting him go.
I could understand why people kept pets.
It made the loneliness fade, even if only a little.
‘What’s going on in the gallery?’
It was getting dark outside. I logged into the gallery.
As always, it was overflowing with all kinds of pointless posts.
It was a place that felt more human than anywhere else.
There were occasionally people who seemed out of their minds, but I let it go.
‘What do these people do in real life?’
The thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Especially the registered users I’d grown close to.
Most of them were far from “ordinary.”
Even Heavenly Demon, who got mocked as a martial arts fossil, seemed like a respected elder to me. Someone of high status, even.
‘They’re good people.’
I was only curious, though. I had no intention of digging deeper.
I was already indebted to them just for helping me.
[Post title] End of Day 9!
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] (Campfire photo)
[Post] Day 9 was especially rough! Day 10 starts tomorrow!
[Post] See you tomorrow!
└ [Heavenly Demon]: Rest well. I am always cheering for you.
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: You had an especially hard day today. Stay strong.
└ [Starlight Princess]: You’ve got this! I hope you don’t beat my record!
└ No matter how I look at it, Wild Grylls probably will?
└ There’s no point counting. They won’t be able to get out anyway lol
└ [Starlight Princess]: You people really are trash ^^
└ [LetsGrowTrees]: Thank you for giving me the Core today! Thanks to you, things have become much easier!
└ [Wild Grylls]: I’m glad it’s helped. I’m also making good use of the gift you gave me, LetsGrowTrees.
└ [LetsGrowTrees]: How is it? Alvenheim’s pride and joy!
└ [Wild Grylls]: Are all elves smokers by any chance?
└ [LetsGrowTrees]: Ah. Right.
└ lol
└ What do you mean “ah, right”? lol
└ Looks like they forgot they gave Wild Grylls tobacco lol
└ Hey, knife-ear. Do you smoke too?
└ [LetsGrowTrees]: No! I use it as a scented candle.
└ That’s weird in its own way;;
└ Who uses tobacco as a scented candle?
LetsGrowTrees was a strange person too.
What on earth did they need the Core for?
Still, from my perspective, it was a good trade because I got rid of a troublesome item.
‘Tomorrow, I’ll go upstream.’
There was still time before bed. Until then, I practiced my cultivation method.
Heavenly Demon said she wanted to teach me the next mnemonic verses, but I needed to strengthen my foundations first.
I didn’t know what the standard for that foundation was, but she said it would take at least two weeks.
‘Then I can eat the Inner Core.’
About four days remained. I quietly closed my eyes and began Qi Circulation and Breath Regulation.
I could vividly feel the mana circulating through my body.
For some reason, the amount of mana seemed to increase each day, and its circulation grew faster too.
‘Is it because of the fish?’
Maybe it was because I ate fish containing Inner Cores every day, no, every meal.
Still, I could control it. If I couldn’t, my body would have burst long ago.
Without any interruptions around me, I slowly, very slowly, sank into concentration.
And the next day.
Whoooooosh!
“Ah, goddamn it.”
I cursed at the pouring rain.
Footnotes:
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