Chapter 92

Traces (1)

I think I need to revise what I said about the eel.

A natural strength-enhancing drug. That description fit it perfectly.

Of course, the downside was that the side effects weren’t just a little severe—they were extremely severe—but they were manageable.

More importantly, unlike actual drugs, the effects didn’t seem temporary. There was a high chance they were permanent.

’Forget virility and all that. It boosts stamina itself.’

There were all sorts of folk beliefs surrounding eel, but in reality, eel was good for everyone regardless of age or sex.

It would be strange if something that was good for men was somehow bad for women.

It was easier to think of it as an energy booster.

And eel from the Forest of Four Seasons boosted not only energy but overall physical ability.

’Things could’ve gone really badly if I hadn’t learned the internal energy cultivation method.’

But no matter what it was, if your body couldn’t process it, you were bound to suffer for it.

If the Heavenly Demon hadn’t taught me the internal energy cultivation method—if she hadn’t taught me the chant—my manhood probably would’ve exploded.

’There’s absolutely no downside to training the internal energy cultivation method.’

It relieved fatigue. It increased my mana. Whenever something went wrong with my body, it helped restore it.

It was perfect in every way.

I should train even harder from now on.

"Hrngh."

I repositioned the barricades one by one.

Since I had become stronger, I managed to save far more time than I originally expected.

’I can install the barricades the dwarf gives me here.’

After finishing the rearrangement, I went back into the cave and moved on to other tasks.

The first thing I did was update the map.

I marked the location of the sea.

There wasn’t just the sea itself. There were also quite a few rivers where seawater flowed upstream.

Since I currently had no idea where those rivers led, I left as much blank space around them as possible.

’Even that river split into two branches farther upstream.’

The problem was that one of those branches flowed toward another rather terrifying place.

Maybe a troop of monkeys lived there, because I had heard cries like, "Oooh! Oooh!"

I would rather avoid the place if possible, but there was a good chance I would eventually have no choice but to go there.

’How did the monkeys evolve?’

The most basic change in this place seemed to be animals growing larger.

Most of the animals I had encountered so far had been huge.

So how had monkeys, animals famous for their high intelligence, changed?

I had wondered about this once before, but I sincerely hoped they hadn’t transformed into anything as bizarre as that shark-man from before.

’For now, I’ll head upstream and come back.’

Now that I had finished repositioning the barricades, I checked how many fish had been caught.

Three fish had been caught overnight.

A plentiful haul.

Since I occasionally obtained unexpected food supplies like the turtle eggs, my stockpile seemed to be gradually growing.

’I’ll have the turtle egg for breakfast.’

If I left it sitting around for no reason, it could end up going bad.

Things like this were best eaten quickly.

The egg was about the size of an ostrich egg, so one should be enough to fill me up.

’Guess I’ll have to make it sunny-side up.’

Even with a spatula, there was no way I could flip it.

Like I said, it was just too big.

After thinking about it, I decided to simply cook it sunny-side up.

Sunny-side up eggs were delicious too.

So I poured a little oil into the large cast-iron pan, and once it seemed sufficiently heated over the campfire, I tried cracking the egg.

Tap! Tap-tap! Thunk!

"Huh?"

Surprisingly, it wouldn’t crack easily.

It was pretty tough.

Considering how large the egg was, its shell was apparently thick as well.

Worried that the oil in the pan would start splattering everywhere, I hurriedly fetched my hammer.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"What the hell?"

Even the hammer struggled to break it.

The shell was as hard as iron.

Thinking I might simply be holding back too much, I put a little more strength into my blows, but the result was the same.

It showed absolutely no signs of breaking.

Apparently, it had evolved so that even if a beast stole the egg while its parents were away, it wouldn’t be able to crack it open.

’Wouldn’t that make it hard for the hatchling to get out too?’

Was it survival of the strongest?

What a brutal race from the moment they were born.

In the end, I had to use aura before I finally managed to crack the egg.

Sssssizzle!

At least my efforts weren’t wasted, because the egg began cooking beautifully.

There was so much of it that it filled the entire large pan.

I sprinkled salt over the top.

That should bring out the flavor even more.

Salt was godly.

’Maybe I should’ve brought another one while I was there?’

Of course, if I had, it would’ve been so heavy that I probably wouldn’t have been able to move properly.

I chuckled, and once the egg was cooked, I removed the pan from the campfire.

Unlike fish, it was difficult to transfer this onto a plate.

I had no choice but to cut it up and eat it like a steak.

I grabbed a knife and fork and cut into the edge.

Even with a sunny-side up egg, the trick was to fry the edges until they became slightly crispy.

Crunch—

The crispy fried edge combined with the mild flavor characteristic of egg whites.

Finally, the salt added a savory touch that brought everything together.

Objectively speaking, the fish tasted better, but there was something special about this egg.

Especially because I had obtained it from the wild rather than through the auction house.

Pop!

I broke the neatly centered yolk.

Using it like a sauce, I ate it together with the egg white.

The yolk wasn’t fishy either. It had a peculiar, subtle flavor that seemed like it could become addictive.

"Wow. This is delicious."

I finished the entire pan of egg.

I even wiped my mouth with a tissue afterward.

It wasn’t quite like steak, but it tasted somewhat like eating bacon.

What an incredible flavor.

The eel was the same way. Most of the food from the Forest of Four Seasons tasted fantastic.

’Though having salt probably makes the biggest difference.’

Honestly, salt was practically a cheat item among cheat items.

Without salt, I probably wouldn’t have been able to enjoy food like this.

Moments like these really made me appreciate the existence of the gallery.

Without the gallery, even finding salt would have required an enormous amount of effort.

’Or I might’ve died long ago.’

After cleaning everything up, I checked the time.

Probably because I had repositioned the barricades first, it was already 9 a.m.

I usually considered 8 a.m. the start of my day.

’I’ve still got plenty of time, and I have some things to receive, so I’ll spend the morning training.’

First, there was something I hadn’t managed to receive yesterday.

The container that Smart Mine had promised me, which supposedly made it easier to store inner cores.

I had wondered whether something like that even existed, but since he had offered it, I intended to accept it.

’If he scams me, I just won’t trade with him again.’

Inner cores were everywhere.

I found one practically every time I cut open a fish’s belly.

I had already collected close to ten of them.

Giving away one shouldn’t be a problem.

Title) Smart Mine, I’d Like to Trade

Wild Grylls

If you see this post, please trade with me. I was too busy to do it yesterday.

It was only about five minutes after I posted that message that I received a reply.

I had been waiting for Smart Mine as well, so I accepted without hesitation.

[Smart Mine: Greetings, Mr. Grylls. First, allow me to express my gratitude for agreeing to this trade.]

[Wild Grylls: You sound completely different from how you do in the comments.]

[Smart Mine: It is my personal rule to always show proper respect to a patron.]

[Wild Grylls: I have no intention of becoming your patron, though.]

[Smart Mine: Considering the value of inner cores, you are more than qualified to be one.]

What a weird persona.

Or maybe he really was just being polite.

The gallery was full of all kinds of people, so this was nothing compared to some of them. Just look at the Heavenly Demon.

If anything, having him act this politely might be more comfortable.

At least he’d made a good impression on me.

[Wild Grylls: By the way, what exactly is this container for storing inner cores?]

[Smart Mine: It is a bottle that emits cold when you channel qi into it. You can think of it as a miniature refrigerator.]

[Wild Grylls: If it runs on mana, wouldn’t it be better to just buy an actual refrigerator...?]

[Smart Mine: The amount of qi it requires is significantly lower. It is also difficult to make, so it is generally used only for storing valuable items.]

[Wild Grylls: Are you sure you’re okay with giving me something like that?]

[Smart Mine: This item can be bought with money. Inner cores, on the other hand, are difficult to obtain even with money.]

I roughly understood.

It was because of their rarity.

King Leor had once given me a crystal orb imbued with Light magic.

So there was nothing particularly strange about a container that generated cold.

It was fantasy. I just had to accept it for what it was.

Thinking too deeply about it would only give me a headache.

[Wild Grylls: All right. But it’s not going to break or anything, right?]

[Smart Mine: The chances are extremely low, but if it does malfunction, please tell me immediately. I will repair it myself.]

[Wild Grylls: Thank you. I’ll give you the inner core I got today, so I hope this turns out to be a good trade for both of us.]

[Smart Mine: The honor is mine.]

Calling it an honor was a bit much.

I finished the trade with the impeccably polite Smart Mine.

Soon afterward, I received the bottle he had mentioned.

’What kind of writing is this?’

There were unfamiliar characters inscribed on the bottle.

It was much smaller than an elixir bottle, only about as long as my pinky finger.

It was fairly thick, so an inner core looked like it would fit inside, but I couldn’t feel any cold coming from the outside of the bottle.

’Did I get scammed?’

Feeling slightly uneasy, I tested it first.

The moment I pulled out the stopper sealing the glass bottle, cold air slowly seeped out.

There was a chance he had simply trapped cold air inside it, so I waited for thirty seconds.

Even after thirty seconds had passed, the container continued emitting cold air.

’That’s fascinating.’

They didn’t have mini refrigerators, yet they had something like this.

Maybe it really was because of how much mana each one consumed, but I didn’t know enough to say.

As long as it worked, that was all that mattered.

I put all the inner cores I had collected so far into the bottle.

As soon as I did, the surface of the bottle turned white as though it had frosted over.

’Did the cold intensify because the mana inside the inner cores is leaking out?’

Let’s just say that was the reason.

As long as it preserved them properly, I didn’t care.

Now that I had extended the inner cores’ storage life, I got to my feet and began training.

As always, my training consisted of swordsmanship and shield practice.

From now on, I intended to do it once every day.

’More precisely, whenever Wonmo is asleep.’

Right now, Wonmo was sprawled on his back with his belly exposed, sleeping soundly.

I didn’t know whether it was because I was nearby or because he still didn’t understand how frightening the wild could be.

’Still, he’s cute.’

Wonmo was a baby.

Babies needed to be protected.

Besides, hadn’t I killed Wonmo’s mother?

Granted, his mother had tried to kill me first... but now that I had decided to raise him, I needed to take responsibility.

’Training aside, how do I improve my reaction speed?’

In the middle of training, I glanced to one side.

Toward Namu-Ppareumbo.

I wasn’t asking for agility, dynamic visual acuity, or reaction speed on Namu-Ppareumbo’s level.

I just wanted to improve my reactions enough that I could respond to sudden attacks.

’Snakes are the biggest problem.’

Snakes were quick.

And stealthy.

They might be slower than Namu-Ppareumbo, but I still needed to prepare for them.

Besides, there was absolutely no downside to improving my reaction speed.

It meant I would have more opportunities to counterattack.

With that in mind, I decided to ask the gallery.

How exactly could I improve my reaction speed?

Title) Any Exercises for Improving Reaction Speed?

Wild Grylls

I want to improve my reaction speed. Are there any good exercises for that?

└ Heavenly Demon) Do you not have Namu-Ppareumbo?

└ Wild Grylls) What about him?

└ Heavenly Demon) I thought your reactions would naturally improve if you sparred with him.

└ Wild Grylls) I could literally die if something goes wrong ;;

└ SwordMaster) Exercises for improving reaction speed are simple. You just need to focus on exercises that stimulate your nerves.

└ Wild Grylls) I don’t know what kind of exercises those are.

└ SwordMaster) Throw a highly bouncy ball hard against a wall. Keep trying to catch it, and your reactions will naturally improve.

└ Wild Grylls) What if the ball hits me?

└ SwordMaster) Then it hits you. What else?

└ Wild Grylls) Teacher? ;;

└ SwordMaster) But seriously, I’m not joking. That really is one of the best methods.

└ Starlight Princess) Nothing in particular comes to mind for me. From your perspective, Mr. Grylls, I think that method would probably be best.

└ Cheonggu Princess) I can give you a ball.

└ Passing Dwarf) You’ve got elixirs anyway, so isn’t it fine even if it hits you in the face?

└ Wild Grylls) Why don’t you try getting hit yourself?

└ Passing Dwarf) Ever been hit by a falling rock?

└ Wild Grylls) Fuc—

In the end, I decided to follow SwordMaster’s advice and throw a ball against a wall.

I got the ball from Cheonggu Princess.

It was slightly smaller than a baseball.

’Wait. Wouldn’t it be better to have Ppareumbo throw it at me?’

If I bounced it around randomly, it might end up hitting Wonmo while he was sleeping peacefully.

With that thought, I handed the ball to Namu-Ppareumbo.

"Here, Ppareumbo. I’ve got a job for you."

"Throw this at me without warning. Make it a little fast, though. Got it?"

Why do I have to do that?

Namu-Ppareumbo asked with his expression.

So I gave him a fairly convincing reason.

"It’ll make the tree that grows your food a little tougher. Wouldn’t that be good for you too?"

At that, he nodded.

I had no idea how I was somehow capable of communicating with this guy.

Questions aside, we went outside the cave and started training.

Namu-Ppareumbo was so ridiculously slow even when going outside that I had to carry him myself.

"All right. Throw it."

"..."

At my words, Namu-Ppareumbo slowly pulled his arm backward.

Slowly.

Very, very slowly.

So slowly that merely watching him was frustrating.

I endured it patiently.

After all, I had no idea when the ball would come flying at me.

"You little shi—"

But even the motion of extending his arm forward was so painfully slow that I couldn’t help swearing.

I became so irritated that I shifted my feet.

Whoosh!

At that exact moment, Ppareumbo snapped his arm forward so quickly that it happened in what felt like an instant.

Smack!

"Gah!"

The ball slammed straight into my face.

A disaster born from letting my guard down and having comparatively slower reactions.

My temper flared for a moment, but it had partly been my own fault, so I didn’t get angry.

"O-One more time..."

"Let’s do it one more time. Just throw it a little softer this time."

If it was for survival, if it was for escaping this place, there was nothing I wouldn’t do.

Sometimes, a man had to grit his teeth and endure.

Thwack!

"Urgh!"

And this was one of those times.