Got a Gallery in the Wild

While Ludwig was adapting to the Forest of the Four Seasons alongside Grills,

the Kingdom of Iris continued to suffer from headaches because of the Magic Tower suspended in the sky.

Since no one had any idea when it would fall, the people’s anxiety grew day by day.

Faced with that situation, the King of the Kingdom of Iris issued the following announcement.

[My people. Do not be afraid. We are safe.]

Without a doubt, it was an announcement with extraordinary credibility.

At this point, authority no longer mattered.

All the people had before them was a disaster that could strike at any moment.

Only when the Magic Tower descended would they be able to feel at ease or do anything else.

As fear grew with each passing day, so did the people’s uneasiness.

Some had even begun evacuating.

And amid all that,

what was Kadir, the person chiefly responsible for such a disaster, doing?

“What if I just run away?”

[How irresponsible. And you call yourself responsible?]

“Says the one responsible who failed.”

[…That hurt.]

As the days passed, his mental stability gradually crumbled.

He had tried analyzing the Celestial Whale’s ambergris in every way imaginable.

Every attempt had ended in failure.

After all, it was a byproduct of a creature that had existed during the Mythological Era.

Analyzing it with modern knowledge was impossible.

Ironically, it was precisely because he was Kadir that he understood it was impossible.

Anyone else would’ve kept trying, convinced there had to be a way.

If he seemed calmer lately, it was because he had finally accepted that analyzing it was impossible.

‘Even with all my knowledge, I can’t analyze it what kind of creatures accompanied the gods?’

And what kind of place was the Forest of the Four Seasons, where such creatures existed?

Long ago, driven by curiosity, he had set foot there once.

Only one foot.

That was precisely why he had managed to escape.

Had he entered completely.

He didn’t even want to imagine it.

For a mage, being unable to use mana was equivalent to a death sentence.

‘Perhaps that shark is also a creature from the Mythological Era.’

He thought of the shark-man corpse Grills had given him.

After analyzing it, he had concluded it was a species that shouldn’t exist in this world.

When he first received it, he hadn’t known.

But the existence of the Celestial Whale had allowed him to form a hypothesis.

The Forest of the Four Seasons was probably home to many other mythical creatures.

‘The same goes for that giraffe. There aren’t even fossils of an animal like that.’

A being for which no records even existed.

Every time he thought about it, excitement coursed through his body.

Of course, that excitement vanished every time he watched the ambergris continue disintegrating in real time.

Kadir calmly took a sip of tea as he reflected on what to do next.

‘There’s about one week left before the Magic Tower falls… perhaps even less.’

As time passed, the ambergris shrank faster and faster.

And when it disappeared completely…

He preferred not to imagine it.

Should he prepare for the impact?

That wasn’t an easy option either.

There was a high probability that the entire capital would become a living hell.

‘The best option would be to run away.’

Thinking about it rationally, abandoning everything and fleeing was the wisest decision.

Taking the remaining ambergris and the Immortal King with him.

After all, no one knew the true cause of all this.

As long as he remained silent, no one would ever find out.

‘Then that man would insult me until the end of time.’

But he couldn’t do it.

He wouldn’t be able to face the previous Hero.

Even after death, he’d probably chase him to the depths of hell just to point a finger at him.

Kadir let out a deep sigh as he gazed at the ambergris.

Even now, it continued crumbling away little by little.

‘If I can’t analyze it… then what should I do?’

His entire life had been spent as a mage who analyzed and organized absolutely everything.

He had never understood warriors who relied on their senses and instincts.

The same was true of the Hero.

But.

Now that he stood before an extreme situation, his mind was beginning to lean more toward instinct than reason.

‘I can’t control the ambergris. But what if I absorb it completely myself and then control it?’

It was merely a hypothesis.

A highly instinctive one at that.

But time was running out.

He could no longer afford to delay.

With that resolve, AllFather opened the Gallery.

He had no intention of revealing his identity.

He only wanted to ask for help.

[AllFather: Hello, Grills. Are you there?]

[WildGrills: Yes, I’m here. What’s wrong?]

[AllFather: Sorry, but could you give me a little more ambergris? It’s quite urgent.]

Grills’ help.

In that situation, very few people could offer a solution.

And Grills was one of them.

AllFather prayed that he still had some ambergris left.

[WildGrills: Yes, I can. How much do you need?]

[AllFather: Would a fist-sized piece be possible?]

[WildGrills: Of course. I’ll send it right away.]

[AllFather: Thank you. Thank you very much.]

[WildGrills: You said it was urgent. It seems the problem still hasn’t been solved, has it?]

[AllFather: To be honest, I was so desperate that I’d already decided to give up. But I can’t keep putting it off anymore.]

[WildGrills: I completely understand how you feel. Here’s the ambergris.]

Every time he spoke with him, he thought the same thing.

Grills was truly a kind-hearted young man.

That said, he was no fool.

He lived by the belief that in order to receive, you first had to give.

If he managed to resolve this crisis,

he would fulfill any favor Grills asked of him.

‘As long as I survive.’

Kadir looked at the piece of ambergris in his hand.

It was roughly the size of a fist.

And what was he about to do with it?

Something that made his stomach churn just imagining it.

Ambergris was a byproduct of the Celestial Whale.

Whether it had come out from the front or the back,

it was still something that had once been inside its body.

“…Hup!”

[…?]

Then,

Kadir swallowed it whole.

Seeing that, the Immortal King spoke in complete horror.

[You’ve reached the point of eating literal shit. You’ve definitely lost your mind.]

“Shut up… Cough!”

Ignoring the Immortal King’s horrified voice, Kadir began to concentrate.

His idea was simple.

If he couldn’t analyze the ambergris,

then he would absorb its power.

He would understand that power to control the ambergris or move the Magic Tower.

‘Become the ambergris itself. Normally this sort of thing is a warrior’s method, but…’

Right now, there was no other alternative.

Kadir focused his entire mind.

He paid no attention to the taste of the ambergris.

It would only break his concentration.

However…

Was it because the ambergris contained such overwhelming power?

Or because a mere human had swallowed an object from the Mythological Era?

Crack… Crack…

Spiderweb-like cracks began spreading across Kadir’s skin.

At the same time, a whirlwind erupted inside the laboratory, sending piles of research documents flying.

[Uaaaaaaahhh!]

Unfortunately, the Immortal King was among those documents.

He began letting out strange screams, completely dizzy.

Drip.

A thin stream of blood trickled from Kadir’s mouth.

It was a sign that his insides were being destroyed.

The spiderweb-like cracks began glowing with a violet hue.

Anyone who saw him would know the situation was extremely serious.

But Kadir didn’t let out a single groan.

He remained completely focused.

And after pushing that concentration to its absolute limit…

Crack… Crack…

The cracks spreading across his body began expanding further and further.

BOOOOM!!!

And they exploded.

***

[NecromancyIsLove: Save me.]

[WildGrills: Huh?]

[NecromancyIsLove: I don’t know what the hell you gave him, but please, save me.]

[WildGrills: Did something happen?]

Out of nowhere, he received a message from NecromancyIsLove and wondered what was going on.

Since he was always saying strange things, he decided not to think too much about it.

Although he was a little worried that he’d come back later with another crazy story.

“#%^#”

“Like this?”

“#%^^”

Right now, it was far more important to continue training with Ludwig.

Perhaps because the sweet potato incident from the previous day was still fresh in his mind, Ludwig was teaching him with absolute dedication.

Was it difficult to train without being able to communicate?

Honestly, yes.

But since Ludwig personally corrected each of his stances, it wasn’t impossible.

“You… eyes… good. Good.”

On top of that, every now and then he even spoke Korean.

It had only been three days since they’d met.

And he’d already reached that level.

No one had even taught him formally.

‘Lackey learned to speak on his own too.’

In any case, the training started with the fundamentals.

Without a solid foundation, everything built on top of it would eventually become unstable.

Grills agreed with that philosophy, so he silently followed Ludwig’s instructions.

“$^&$#”

“Like this?”

“%^&$”

“Hmm. Understood.”

And Ludwig wasn’t just training Grills.

He was also guiding Lackey.

That said, he didn’t correct his stance the way he did with Grills.

He simply gave him a few pointers.

Although he possessed profound mastery of martial arts, his body wasn’t built for that style of combat.

Therefore, Lackey would have to find and develop his own path.

And lastly,

Wonmo.

“Kyuu! Kyuu! Kyuu!”

“@#$. @#$. @#$.”

He simply stood off to the side clapping and cheering them on.

He even started dancing with joy.

There wasn’t even any need to translate it.

Good! Good! Very good!

That was undoubtedly what he meant.

Thanks to that, the morning passed in the blink of an eye.

At noon, they had wild boar for lunch.

You could say there were still sweet potatoes left.

But it wasn’t good to eat them too often.

‘Besides, I gave some away to a few users with nicknames.’

They all thanked him.

He’d have to trade with GrowGrow more often.

Just like that, another peaceful day seemed to be coming to an end.

Shhhhhhh.

“Ah not again.”

Rain began to fall.

Grills looked at the torrential downpour, as though the heavens themselves had opened, and sighed.

If it rained.

it meant winter was drawing closer.

Lately, Wonmo had put on quite a bit of weight, both in flesh and fur.

And now, with this rain, he was completely certain.

Within a few days, a merciless winter would arrive.

Fortunately, they had prepared ahead of time.

‘I hope the other building doesn’t have any leaks.’

Just to be safe, he went to inspect Lackey and Largo’s house.

Since they’d built it carefully, the roof had no leaks whatsoever.

However.

he realized he’d forgotten to make a drainage channel, so he installed one immediately.

‘Good thing I collected the fish traps.’

The moment he saw the sky beginning to darken, he retrieved them.

After all, the river would swell, and they wouldn’t be able to approach it for quite some time.

Well.

Once the rain stopped, they could see what new kinds of fish had appeared.

If it was an eel, he intended to catch it no matter what.

If it was a pufferfish,

he’d kick it without hesitation.

‘As long as nothing weird shows up…’

Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to browse the Gallery.

Ludwig also seemed exhausted after the day’s work and had fallen asleep.

He couldn’t disturb him.

So it was better to pass the time by browsing for a while.

[Breaking News! The Magic Tower has finally descended.]

[Live video of the Magic Tower descending.]

[Give Kadir an upvote. He’s an absolute legend. LOL.]

[How the hell did he pull that off?]

The Gallery was filled with posts about the Magic Tower.

From what he gathered, Kadir had successfully taken control of the floating tower and brought it down safely.

Bringing down a structure suspended at such an incredible height without incident.

He couldn’t help but think Kadir was an amazing person.

‘Even with the ambergris, it must have been unbelievably difficult.’

He kept browsing in case there was any other news.

Most of the posts were still about the Magic Tower, although they had already been posted several hours ago.

Just as he was looking for a new topic.

“Kyuueng…”

“Huh?”

“…?”

“Kyuu?”

A sound none of them had ever heard before came from the entrance of the cave.

Not just Grills.

Ludwig, who had been resting with his eyes closed.

Wonmo, who had been rolling around on the floor.

Even Lackey, who was riding on my back, turned his head upon hearing that sound.

“Peeeep…”

Its body was covered in grayish fur.

Small wings sprouted from its back.

A huge snout.

Well-developed hind legs.

And relatively short forelegs.

“…Who are you?”

A completely unfamiliar visitor had just entered the cave.

“Peeeeeep…”

Covered in wounds from head to toe.