Chapter 114

Mining (1)

Title: Come See a Talking Gorilla

Wild Grylls

(Video of the leader gorilla speaking)

(Video of the leader gorilla speaking)

(Video of the royal guards and leader gorilla speaking)

(Video of the leader gorilla speaking)

(Video of the leader gorilla threatening me)

Too many people refused to believe me, so I’m uploading these.

Watch them and decide for yourselves whether I’m lying.

└ Heavenly Demon: It is fascinating no matter how many times I see it. Even its manner of speech sounds like something from ancient times.

└ SwordMaster: I don’t know the language of the Central Plains very well. What is it saying?

└ Heavenly Demon: It says SwordMaster is a liar and that only the Heavenly Demon is great.

└ SwordMaster: There you go, lying every time you open your mouth again;;

└ What’s with the fake translation?

└ F—

└ U—

└ Cker.

└ What the hell is this? Lmao.

└ Look at that teamwork, lol.

└ Allfather: By Aragon! Not only the leader, but even the gorillas beside it can speak. This will send shock waves through academia...!

└ Professor, won’t those gorillas pose a threat to us?

└ Allfather: That is unlikely. It might be a different story if they developed the Forest of Four Seasons into a civilization of their own.

└ A civilization in the Forest of Four Seasons, damn.

└ I heard those bastards are strong, lol. They even know how to use tools.

└ Once they start farming, the second human race will be complete.

└ Then should we classify them as beastmen? What exactly are they?

└ Wouldn’t we have to classify them as beastmen?

└ Suspiciously: It’s hard to call them beastmen. Their limb proportions aren’t right.

└ Allfather: The commenter above is correct. To be classified as beastmen, they must possess bodily proportions similar to humans.

└ Clever Main: By the way, do you know that guy’s name? If they have a language, they must have names too.

└ Wouldn’t whoever taught it to speak have given it a name? Does Grylls know?

└ Looks like he went off to do something else. He isn’t replying to any comments.

└ Clever Main: Then we’ll have to name it ourselves. How about Sun Wukong-plus-one?

└ What the hell is Sun Wukong-plus-one? Lol.

└ Clever Main: Sun Wukong is the name of a monkey from the mythology of the Central Plains. That guy isn’t a monkey but a gorilla, so he’s Sun Wukong-plus-one. Isn’t it fucking brilliant?

└ Holy shit, are you a genius? Your IQ must be over 150!

└ Clever Main: I am pretty smart, lol.

└ And yet a guy like you wastes his time on the Gallery, lol.

It was the Gallery, all right. Toss them one juicy topic, and they would happily entertain themselves.

Some of their speculation was occasionally meaningful, so browsing through it was quite useful.

’If everyone thinks they speak in an archaic manner, someone from the old days must have taught them.’

The most noteworthy detail was the leader gorilla’s archaic speech.

Languages naturally changed over time.

Even without looking far back, there were plenty of differences between the Korean spoken fifty years ago and the Korean spoken today.

Moreover, I had heard that the Jeonghyeol War, which occurred approximately sixty years ago, had brought significant changes to the language of the Central Plains.

In other words, the leader gorilla was speaking the language as it would have been spoken by someone from that era.

’All sorts of things really have happened.’

From the Immortal King to the Jeonghyeol War.

Such was human history. Roughly half of it inevitably ended up being marked by war and bloodshed.

People beating and fighting one another day after day was practically normal.

’It’s the same here.’

The wilderness was no different. It was a place where battles for survival took place every single day.

Hadn’t the leader gorilla nearly killed me just moments ago?

I was in no position to criticize anyone. As I had repeatedly said, I had more than enough problems of my own.

I considered how I should spend the rest of the day.

The leader gorilla had completely disrupted my plans, so I needed to revise them.

’Should I... build the door and wall?’

One slap from the leader gorilla would bring down any door or wall I constructed.

Even in The Three Little Pigs, the house built from bricks had remained standing.

The leader gorilla, however, rendered all of that meaningless.

’At least it apologized, so it probably won’t invade my territory again.’

Still, I had no idea when another creature as powerful as the leader gorilla might appear.

That meant any structure I painstakingly built could collapse with a single flick.

And it might not stop at the structures. The entire cave could collapse just like my heart.

’Let’s give up on the door and wall. I’ll only install CCTV cameras.’

Thanks to that realization, I could abandon the idea without hesitation. I should consider myself lucky to have realized it early.

If I had finished building everything only for the leader gorilla to appear and destroy it, my despair would have been twice as great.

That didn’t mean I could simply stand by and let someone steal my possessions from right under my nose.

Losing the fasting pills would be manageable, but if someone stole the elixir, even my life would be endangered.

’Should I hide the important items underground?’

I could dig into the floor and cleverly conceal the spot beneath the tiger hide.

As an additional precaution, I should place charcoal inside for its moisture-absorbing properties.

To do that, I would need to dig through a portion of the cave’s solid floor.

’Will a pickaxe be enough?’

The cave floor contained some soil, but most of it was stone.

It would probably be difficult to excavate unless I used a hammer or pickaxe.

Besides, I couldn’t use my left arm immediately, so for now, I only intended to inspect the area.

"This should be a decent place to hide them."

I found a relatively soft spot and marked it.

I could begin modifying it once I decided that my left arm had fully recovered—probably sometime after lunch.

"Chomp! Chomp, chomp!"

"Good grief, Wonmo."

You can’t eat that many bananas. You’ll give yourself diarrhea.

Just how delicious did he find them to be that he was even eating the peels? He had already eaten four bananas by himself.

In the end, I had no choice but to hide the bananas somewhere else too. Wonmo flailed in protest, but it couldn’t be helped.

’Does that... more or less settle everything?’

It seemed I had finished organizing everything that needed attention.

I planned to start digging into the floor around lunchtime.

It was currently approximately eleven in the morning.

Since the leader gorilla had visited early in the morning, I still had plenty of time.

’I should light the oven first. Then I’ll head up to the river and check the fish trap.’

My left hand might be in a splint, but I still had work to do.

I stood up.

Then I began wondering what I should feed Namu-Ppareumbo.

He had only eaten fasting pills until now, so I had no idea what his staple diet was.

"Namu-Ppareumbo, what do you eat? We don’t have any fasting pills left."

Namu-Ppareumbo raised a claw and pointed somewhere.

I turned toward the direction he indicated.

Splash! Splash!

He was pointing at the metal bucket containing the fish.

Was he saying that he ate fish?

When I looked at him questioningly, he nodded.

’Come to think of it, didn’t he try to steal my fish when we first met?’

I still remembered it vividly.

He had slowly crept toward the fish to steal one, only to be caught red-handed.

I couldn’t even describe how dumbfounded I had been at the time. Of course, in hindsight, Namu-Ppareumbo had been showing me mercy.

’Considering both the gorillas and Namu-Ppareumbo like fish...’

Was fish something like gukbap to them?

Delicious gukbap, the so-called commoner’s meal—even though it had recently become expensive enough to make that label sound ridiculous.

It seemed quite likely, since catching fish would be difficult for both the gorillas and Namu-Ppareumbo.

After all, a Golden Poison Frog was sitting right beside the water. Without a fish trap, fishing would be dangerous.

"All right. I’ll give you fish for the time being. You eat it raw like Wonmo, right?"

"..."

He nodded again.

With this, I wouldn’t have to worry about his meals for a while.

I carried Namu-Ppareumbo on my back and brought Wonmo along with me.

When we eventually reached the river, I found two fish caught in the trap.

’Three in the morning and two at noon. Not bad.’

I still had plenty in reserve. There should have been three or four left.

Now that I also had to account for Namu-Ppareumbo’s meals, I needed to conserve them.

If necessary, we would have to eat smoked meat instead.

’The time is gradually coming when I’ll have to earn everything for myself.’

With one unexpected incident occurring after another, it seemed my reliance on the Gallery was gradually decreasing.

No. I had only survived this long because the Gallery existed in the first place.

As I cleaned the fish, I removed the inner cores from their entrails.

Slide—

"Hmm?"

However, the moment I removed one of the inner cores, Namu-Ppareumbo extended his hand beside me.

The gesture made it look as though he wanted me to give it to him.

I alternated my gaze between Namu-Ppareumbo’s face and his outstretched hand before asking uncertainly,

"You want the inner core?"

He answered with a nod.

I was slightly dumbfounded but soon gave it some thought.

To be honest, I had an abundance of inner cores.

Every time I cleaned a fish, another inner core was added to my stockpile.

It might actually be better to give one to Namu-Ppareumbo every now and then.

"Here. Take it."

"..."

When I handed him the round inner core, Namu-Ppareumbo immediately placed it in his mouth.

Apparently, he ate them as a substitute for fasting pills.

However, they must not have tasted as good as the fasting pills because he frowned slightly.

Even so, one should be enough for a meal. After all, it probably contained far more mana than a fasting pill.

’But he eats inner cores like ordinary food?’

That was fascinating in its own way.

Just how strong was this guy?

I continued stealing glances at Namu-Ppareumbo as I finished preparing the fish.

My left arm was slightly uncomfortable, but cleaning the fish and placing them in the oven wasn’t difficult.

’I’m glad the gorillas didn’t destroy the oven.’

Now that I had filled my stomach, it was time to circulate my inner cultivation technique.

Under normal circumstances, I would have begun consuming the inner cores today, but I postponed it because of the condition of my arm.

I would probably start eating them around the evening. The day I became stronger wasn’t far away.

’My arm... seems to have mostly healed.’

The arm into which I had injected the elixir appeared to be almost completely healed.

Of course, I had no intention of going out to explore. I planned to remain holed up at home all day.

I tapped my left arm in several places before nodding. It felt sturdier than before.

’Let’s start by digging into the cave floor.’

I needed somewhere to hide the elixir and my other valuables.

The gorillas probably wouldn’t invade again, but there was always a chance something might happen.

Since they were highly intelligent, there were bound to be a few with thieving tendencies.

I purchased a suitably sized pickaxe from the Gallery.

’When I think about it, I learned all sorts of things in the military.’

I had learned how to use both a shovel and a pickaxe during my military service.

Back then, I had grumbled about when I would ever need such skills, but now they were proving extremely useful.

Life really was unpredictable.

I let out a hollow laugh and moved into position.

’Swing it in a full circle to build centrifugal force. And instead of relying on my strength, let the weight of the pickaxe itself do the work.’

If I recklessly swung it with brute force, I would only injure my back and hands.

I had learned that lesson the hard way in the military.

Granted, the injury had allowed me to take it easy for a while, but they hadn’t shown me any mercy afterward.

Distracted by those pointless thoughts, I swung the pickaxe in a full circle.

Then I added a little force and brought it down upon my chosen spot.

Clang! Clang! Clank!

Worried that the floor might not break easily, I even infused the pickaxe with aura as I began digging.

Fortunately, the cave floor wasn’t particularly hard, so it broke apart easily.

’Since I’m putting an entire box inside, I should dig fairly deep.’

Not only did it need to be deep, but it also needed to be wide.

I might eventually have to store various supplies there in addition to my valuables.

I enthusiastically swung the pickaxe to a steady rhythm. Little by little, the floor began to give way.

Clang! Clank! Clank!

However, at some point, it stopped breaking so easily.

It seemed I had reached a different type of rock.

Still, it would eventually break if I kept at it.

With that thought, I continued patiently.

Clang!

"No."

Clank!

"Why!"

CLAAAAANG!

"WON’T YOU BREAK?!"

In the end, I lost my temper and hurled the pickaxe away.

Just how hard was this rock that even an aura-infused pickaxe couldn’t break it?

Irritated, I stared at the hole, which was only about half as deep as I had intended.

A pile of loose stones surrounded it, so I cleared them away one by one with my hands.

Sparkle! Sparkle!

Once I removed the rubble, a stone with a striking green glow was revealed beneath it.

No. This was closer to an ore than an ordinary stone.

I could tell because I had seen orichalcum before.

"What the hell is this now?"

As if everything else weren’t enough, now I couldn’t even dig into the ground.

It felt as though God himself were deliberately screwing me over.

Setting that aside, what kind of ore was so hard that even my pickaxe couldn’t break it?

I immediately took a photograph and uploaded it to the Gallery.

Title: Does Anyone Know What This Is?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of a green, glowing mineral)

I was digging into the ground to make a place to store my valuables, and this crap showed up.

What the hell is it? Is it that mithril stuff someone mentioned before?

It’s so fucking hard that my hands are killing me.

└ Passing Dwarf: Uh... I think that really is mithril.

└ Wild Grylls: ?

It was real?