Got a Gallery in the Wild

The Adult Mandrake had absorbed the Ice Flower and turned completely blue.

Since the Adult Mandrake looked very similar to a person, the result was even more frightening.

With its eyes bulging and its mouth opening and closing like a goldfish’s, it looked like someone about to freeze to death.

As I wondered what to do, I decided to leave a comment first.

If anyone knew something about this phenomenon, it would be StarlightPrincess.

└WildGrills: (Video of the mandrake having turned blue) It ended up like this. Why did this happen?

└StarlightPrincess: Huh? What happened to it? Why did it turn blue?

└WildGrills: Ma’am… ;;

└Uh… Why did that thing turn blue?

└Did they appoint it as a blue moderator too or what?

└It looks more like it died. What blue moderator are you talking about? ;;

Even StarlightPrincess seemed confused.

And if she didn’t know what to do, then we were in trouble.

But as they say, even when the sky falls, there is always a way out.

Before long, StarlightPrincess commented again and explained the possible cause.

└StarlightPrincess: From what I can see, the Adult Mandrake absorbed the Ice Flower… First, we need to check whether it’s still alive. Can you poke it with chopsticks or a twig?

└WildGrills: I poked it, but all it does is move its mouth.

└StarlightPrincess: Is it still screaming?

└WildGrills: Yes, but not continuously. It screams for a while and then stops.

└StarlightPrincess: Then it really does seem to have absorbed the Ice Flower. I wasn’t expecting this at all.

└WildGrills: So what do I do now?

└StarlightPrincess: Surprisingly, the situation isn’t that bad. It means both energies have mixed together. Eating it raw is still dangerous, so I’ll explain how to extract the essence.

└WildGrills: Can’t I just send it directly to you, Princess? It seems like it would be easier to extract it that way.

└StarlightPrincess: That wouldn’t be a bad option either, but I’m worried that if something goes wrong, the Ice Flower’s effect might disappear.

└DwarfPassingBy: What if we just turn it into alcohol? I think that would be best.

└WildGrills: Be honest. You’re saying that because you want to keep it, right?

└DwarfPassingBy: Is it that obvious? If you get more, give me one.

└WildGrills: Ha… Hahaha. It was way too obvious.

└That guy wants to turn everything he finds in the Forest of Four Seasons into alcohol hahaha.

└At this rate, one day he’ll even make snake liquor hahaha.

I ignored the words of the alcoholic dwarf.

I waited for StarlightPrincess to explain the procedure.

Even for her, the combination of the Ice Flower and the Adult Mandrake was practically something new.

Both were herbs that could not be obtained with money, and I had mixed them together.

It was an idea and a method that only someone living in the Forest of Four Seasons could put into practice.

‘Even if I can get another Adult Mandrake, getting another Ice Flower will be very difficult.’

The truth was that if this experiment failed, I had no idea when I would find another one.

Unlike mandrakes, it was not a plant that grew in colonies.

I sincerely hoped it would not fail.

This might be my first and last opportunity.

└StarlightPrincess: (Image of a mandrake’s anatomy) As you can see, the Mandrake resembles a human very closely, so its vital points are similar as well. First, do you still have the syringe?

└WildGrills: The one I received before?

└StarlightPrincess: Yes. Fill it with elixir and inject it directly into its mouth.

└WildGrills: This feels like I’m torturing it.

└StarlightPrincess: Exactly. You must keep injecting it until it swells up as if you were force-feeding it.

└WildGrills: Understood.

└Poor mandrake…

└Humanity apologizes to you…

└They won’t even let it scream. They’re just sticking a needle into it hahaha.

└Wouldn’t it be easier to grind it up and squeeze out the juice? I honestly feel bad for it hahaha.

└StarlightPrincess: After that, put it in a mortar and grind it thoroughly. That will give you a highly concentrated essence.

└WildGrills: That’s a pretty primitive method.

└StarlightPrincess: There’s no other alternative. Do you need a mortar?

└WildGrills: No. I can buy one at the auction house.

Since I knew absolutely nothing about the subject, I had no choice but to follow the instructions.

Just as StarlightPrincess said, I filled the syringe with elixir.

Then I stuck it directly into the mouth of the blue-stained Adult Mandrake.

Stab!

“Kuak?! Kuuk! Kuaaaak!”

The moment the needle pierced it, the mandrake desperately tried to scream.

But since I forcibly held its mouth shut, its efforts were useless.

Even so, because it had a human form, it desperately flailed its arms and legs.

It even tried to pull the syringe out by grabbing the needle with its hands.

Thud! Thud!

“Kuut?! Kuup!”

So I gave it a few hits to make it stay still.

It was annoying, but it was part of the process of extracting the essence, so I was patient.

In the end, I injected all the elixir.

Its body was still blue, but little by little it began to emit a glow.

It was probably absorbing the energy of the elixir.

“Kiyo…!”

Thud!

“Kuek! Kiyooooo…!”

Smack! Smack!

“Kuek! Kiyoooot…!”

“…”

“Kiyoooooot! Kiyooooo!”

“Ah… Enough already.”

Did this thing take some kind of drug instead of an Ice Flower?

The moment I removed the syringe from its mouth, it started letting out extremely strange cries.

They were not the characteristic screams of a mandrake.

It sounded more like the noises of someone completely high.

Not even punches were enough to calm it down.

Probably because I had injected it with elixir, it was regenerating in real time.

Even the expression on its face was strange.

It looked like a genuine addict.

Elixir was, after all, a “medicine,” and it seemed to have produced a very bizarre effect on the mandrake.

Thud! Thud! Bam!

“Kuek! Keek! Kueeek!”

So I gave it a few more hits.

Thanks to that, the Adult Mandrake became completely motionless, like a corpse.

I used up half a bottle of elixir and prepared a mortar.

For hygiene’s sake, I did not forget to wash both the mortar and the mandrake with water.

‘She said I had to grind it thoroughly and collect the juice, right?’

According to StarlightPrincess, that juice was the essence.

And now that I think about it, there was something she had not mentioned.

She was acting under the principle of “safety.”

There were more effective methods, but they posed a risk to my survival, so she had chosen the safest one.

I also had no intention of gambling my life for power, so I accepted without objection.

Crack! Crunch! Crack!

I carefully ground the Adult Mandrake inside the mortar.

It was not a small bowl, but a large, proper mortar of the kind used for grinding grain.

I had bought it to extract as much essence as possible.

‘Will this be enough?’

After grinding it for quite a long time, the Adult Mandrake was completely crushed to pieces.

And it was still blue.

I tilted the mortar slightly and poured the essence into the clean, empty bottle that had previously contained the elixir.

Only a few drops came out, but that was not all.

Squish!

I squeezed the crushed mandrake with all my strength.

I used every bit of force I could muster, to the point that the veins stood out on the backs of my hands.

Drip. Drip.

The juice began to fall drop by drop.

After repeating the process several times, I managed to fill about half the bottle.

It was a very small elixir bottle, so that was already enough.

Shhhh…

Perhaps because it also contained elixir, the color was not an ordinary blue.

It was a beautiful blend of icy white and deep blue.

Moreover, it glowed like an elixir.

Just looking at it, it seemed like an extraordinarily rare medicine.

└WildGrills: (Photo of the glowing blue essence) I’ve extracted everything. Now I just have to drink it, right?

└StarlightPrincess: Yes. But just in case, I’ll send you another elixir. It’s full of yang essence, so it should be enough for an emergency.

└WildGrills: Thank you very much.

I already had the emergency elixir that StarlightPrincess had sent me.

The only thing left was to drink the essence.

I looked at the glowing blue liquid and took a deep breath.

The essence was a liquid filled with powerful energy.

It was easier to think of it as an internal core that had been turned into liquid.

So all I had to do was recite the second cultivation method HeavenlyDemon had taught me while calmly controlling that energy.

‘Besides, we added elixir to make it safer. It should be fine.’

Everything is difficult the first time.

I swallowed and drank the essence in a single gulp.

From my mouth to my throat, I felt a coldness so intense it was almost painful.

And on top of that.

It was unbelievably bitter.

So bitter that my face completely twisted.

The bitterness was so intense that I almost lost control of the cultivation method.

‘T-the heavens become me… Wait, that wasn’t it!’

At the same time, I felt a sharp pain in my head, like when someone eats ice cream too quickly.

That combination of bitterness and pain left me dazed, but I continued reciting the Leo Manual.

It was not physical pain, but the sensations were so intense that they were just as difficult to endure.

Even so, I kept trying.

I could not let the energy dominate me.

I had to accept it.

Just as HeavenlyDemon had taught me, to control the energy of the heavens, one first had to understand it.

I tried to perceive every strand of energy contained within the essence.

Whoosh!

Little by little, the results of using a safe method along with my own efforts began to appear.

The essence started moving through the pathways where mana flowed according to the cultivation method.

If this continued, it would not take long to absorb it completely.

Although it felt as though I had a massive block of ice inside my body, it was bearable.

Whoooosh!

How much time passed?

In the end, I managed to absorb the entire essence.

I continued circulating the cultivation method a little longer before slowly opening my eyes.

When I did, I saw the Sloth staring directly at me.

“Fuuu…”

“……”

The fact that the Sloth was there meant I was still alive.

I let out a long sigh.

A cloud of vapor escaped from my mouth.

‘Did… did I succeed?’

After absorbing all the essence, I checked my body.

There were no visible changes.

And the same was true for the cold.

I could still feel it.

It seemed I had not obtained the cold resistance I had been hoping for.

What a shame.

‘But there’s nothing I can do about it. Even StarlightPrincess wasn’t completely sure.’

And I could not ignore safety.

I posted the result in the gallery.

Title) Result of the First Refinement Attempt

WildGrills

It doesn’t seem like anything changed. It feels like everything ended up completely neutralized.

└StarlightPrincess: What a shame. I’m very sorry. It seems my knowledge was insufficient.

└WildGrills: No, not at all. You didn’t do anything wrong. It would be strange if it worked on the first try, wouldn’t it?

└StarlightPrincess: Even though the Ice Flower is still a mystery, I think we should investigate the Adult Mandrake more thoroughly. Could you give me another one in the future?

└WildGrills: Of course. Besides, you gave me elixir.

└DwarfPassingBy: I told you already. It would have been better to make alcohol with it.

└WildGrills: No way.

└StarlightPrincess: Actually, that’s not such a ridiculous idea. Snake wine or ginseng wine are, in essence, another way of consuming an essence.

└DwarfPassingBy: See? Haha.

└WildGrills: Even so, that alcohol thing…

└DwarfPassingBy: Do it at least once. I’ll give you something amazing.

└WildGrills: If I manage to make it, sure hahaha.

Though for that, I would first have to obtain another Ice Flower.

Looking at the clock to ease my disappointment, I saw that there was still some time left.

Building the ice storage required too much work, but I could still make use of the time by cutting trees and preparing for the night.

Fwoosh!

“Hm?”

Just as I covered my axe with aura to make the work easier, I noticed something strange.

Until now, my aura had been practically colorless.

But not anymore.

Now it was a deep blue.

A blue so cold that it seemed freezing.

‘No… it’s actually cold.’

It still rippled like a flame, but what it emitted was cold.

Out of curiosity, I brought my hand closer.

And nothing happened.

‘Did it just become refreshing?’

It was not even a satisfying disappointment.

What the hell was that?

I let out a small laugh.

Anyway, what mattered now was cutting trees.

Even if it had changed color, it was still aura.

I tightened my grip and swung the axe.

Crunch!

The instant the blade struck exactly in the center of the tree…

Crack! Crack! Craaack!!!

The entire tree froze from the point of impact outward.

“…”

Faced with such an incredible sight, all I could do was stand there with my mouth hanging open.

‘What the hell did I just drink?’

I did not know whether to be happy or worried.

But there was one thing that was absolutely certain.

‘T-this is amazing…!’

Without meaning to, I had obtained an extraordinary ability.

The Ice Flower.

The Adult Mandrake.

And finally, the elixir.

All three were extremely rare things.

Perhaps it was only natural that something like this would happen when they were mixed together.

‘…And what would happen if I combined this with a sword?’

That absurd thought suddenly appeared in my mind.