Welcome to the Wild (5)
I barely managed to secure my dangling arm and made it back to the cave. As soon as I returned, I spotted Wonmo pacing back and forth. She'd clearly been worried sick about me.
“Kyuu! Kyu!”
Wonmo gave me an enthusiastic welcome despite my injury. I wanted to scoop her up with both arms, but with one arm out of commission, it was a struggle.
“Wonmo. Hang on a sec. Let me fix my arm first.”
“Kyuu!”
Wonmo backed off with a vigorous nod. She's such a good girl, always listens so well. I chuckled and carefully lowered my arm.
First order of business: get the shield off. I'd been hurt plenty of times before, but a broken arm was a new one. No clue how to handle it.
What if I just dump elixir on it and it heals all wonky?
That was my biggest worry. My ribs weren't shattered to bits like my arm. Best to splint it first.
I rummaged with one hand for a suitable plank. One of the firewood logs I'd chopped for the campfire would do—just trim it right.
Buy some cloth from the Gallery.
Splint it up and tie it off. Problem was, one arm made it tricky.
“Hey, Ppareumbo ol' pal.”
“……”
“Hold this for me a bit. Arm's fucked up like this.”
So I called on Ppareumbo for help. Couldn't tie it myself, but he could at least hold the cloth.
Ppareumbo stared at me blankly, then gripped the cloth just like I wanted. With the wood block and cloth, I managed to rig up a splint.
It was only temporary, though. Real healing meant elixir.
Arm shattered lol
YasaengGrill (photo of splinted arm)
Fought the alpha gorilla boss, arm got wrecked.
Boss let me live, or I'd be dead rn lololol
Pour elixir here on the arm? Worried bones'll set wrong, so splinted it first.
└Cheonma Was the monkey strong?
└YasaengGrill Insanely strong?? Blocked with shield and it still snapped. Wasn't even a punch—just tapped it.
└Cheonma Tapped it and arm broke?
└YasaengGrill Yeah. Literal tap- like that.
└Cheonma Knows Chimtukyung too? High realm bastard. Didn't see that coming.
└YasaengGrill Slashed with sword, but it mirage'd away and popped up right behind me.
└Cheonma Ihyanghwi as well? Astonishing. It showed mercy.
└SwordTasteStar Lucky you lived. If it went all out, you'd be dead in under a second.
└YasaengGrill Ambushed and it still blocked my sword with fingers. Knew I was fucked then.
└SwordTasteStar How many fingers?
└YasaengGrill Three.
└SwordTasteStar Three 'cause it's you, Grill. Normally it'd be one.
└YasaengGrill Saw the power of Cheonma's sword too.
└What gorilla uses Chimtukyung and Ihyanghwi? Can't believe till I see it;;
└It talks human, so maybe?
└Sounds like bullshit. Say it shot air blasts or something.
└YasaengGrill No air blasts, but wrecked the forest. Show ya later.
└Wtf. Actual air blast?? lololol
└Myth monkeys don't even do that lololol
└Monkeys in myths?
└Jungwon myth. Monkey mimics humans, becomes spirit beast.
└Ooh sounds fun.
└StarlightPrincess Arm totally broken?
└YasaengGrill Yeah. Dangling like crazy. Elixir straight on ok? Splinted first cuz worried bones'd fuse weird.
└StarlightPrincess Smart choice. Bones misalign a lot. Torso soaks elixir fine just drinking, but limbs need care.
└YasaengGrill Slice open and pour faster heal?
└StarlightPrincess I'll send a syringe. Used 'em a lot when sick.
└YasaengGrill Thanks. Want anything? Can't go out today, tomorrow ok.
└StarlightPrincess Just stay alive in one piece. You're on borrowed time fr.
└YasaengGrill Yep.
└Borrowed time af?
└Yeah prob won't last a month
└Just hit 2 weeks no?
└What's next after gorilla lol
└Gorilla mercy'd ya or today'd be end lol
└SunForever Gonna raise a gorilla? Wanna teach martial arts see if works.
└YasaengGrill Teach talking first. Curious if possible.
└SunForever Basic sign language maybe? Chimp I raised did it.
└YasaengGrill Raised a chimp??;
└SunForever Yeah died young tho. Spoiled rotten.
└If chimp lived better than me upvote lololol
└Fr lol better slave in noble house~
└Wanna be chimp lol
└My IQ's sub-chimp, raise me?
└Share IQ then. Chimps/monkeys same diff.
└Better as my slave than pet. Raise ya good.
└lololololol
└Evil fucks lololol
While the Gallery idiots yapped, I got the syringe from StarlightPrincess.
StarlightPrincess: New one just in case, use freely. Thanks.
Put elixir in, inject arm right?
StarlightPrincess: Yes. Be careful.
The syringe's shape matched what I knew, but material and size differed. Huge barrel, but needle was smallish.
If the needle was huge too... ugh.
I loaded elixir, checked flow. Golden liquid beaded from the tip. Good enough.
Stabbed the break, pushed it in slow.
Feels like a junkie shooting up.
Elixir's cool rush hit, pain faded. Felt bones grinding into place—should heal fine.
Still, planned to keep the splint on a day. Broken bones leave nasty aftereffects.
Lived at least.
I swigged elixir, stared at the ceiling. Four Seasons Forest—thought the rep was overhype. My bad. Just hadn't met outliers like alpha gorilla.
Sword-tooth tiger's a kitten next to it.
Plenty of those gorilla-level freaks out there?
How strong were they? Kinda scary.
Didn't go far and fought movie monsters like crayfish already. But they had territories, huge sizes—easy to avoid.
Problem was compact powerhouses like alpha gorilla lurking nearby.
“……”
In my unease, Ppareumbo caught my eye. Watched me nearly die without intervening.
Weighed jumping in = gorilla guards piling on? Or knew it'd mercy me?
Dunno, but connected to alpha gorilla for sure.
“Ppareumbo.”
“……”
“You do that Ihyanghwi thing too? Vanish and reappear.”
Nod.
Ppareumbo nodded. Made sense. Paying tribute was right call.
Speaking of...
Next: bananas. Alpha gorilla's peace offering bunch. Three ripe ones bundled—meal set.
Enough ingredients worry-free awhile. Or snacks.
Try one.
Mood sour, need sweets. Peeled one—got extras for Ppareumbo and Wonmo too.
“Here. Dig in.”
“Kyuu!”
“……”
Animal pals chowed in their ways. Wonmo, sweet fiend, shoved face in; Ppareumbo eyed it wary—enemy gift maybe. Still peeled, so not hating.
Bananas after ages.
One-handed peel struggle. Wanted left but saving it just in case.
Munch munch—
“...Oh?”
Honey-sweet flooded mouth, banana aroma pure. Honey banana fr. No wonder Wonmo went nose-deep. Joyful taste.
Sugar this high?
Mana-fed bananas. Sweeter than Southeast ones. Huge too—forearm size each.
I devoured greedily, soothing rattled nerves.
Nice gift after all.
Wall Valley Pills beat it nutrition-wise. Thought it was ditch food at first.
Still, tasty effort. Can't source human pills here easy. Blend of herbs, not simple weed.
“Nom nom.”
Wonmo demolished peels. Worried diarrhea tho, bitterness aside.
Leaned on cave wall, eyed busted arm. Wild—shield block, yet snapped.
Could I pull that off someday? Gallery text lessons tough.
Wait... right.
Before alpha's final blow. Survival instinct peaked focus.
Aura flared flame-like, condensing, forming shape.
Practice before lose feel.
Sensation lingered—intense afterglow.
Grabbed Cheonma's sword, ignited aura. Light mana: hazy shimmer. More: flame ripple.
Recall that feel bit by bit.
Formless pressure crushing me. Chewed tongue to escape.
Didn't finish, but grasped thread—enough.
Hummm—humm—hummm—
Still hard. Wouldn't condense easy.
But ripples shrank midway. Not skimping mana—pumped hard, shrank anyway.
Not full form, but huge progress.
Issue: too much aura, hard control.
Slow practice'd yield results. Sheathed sword, logged into Gallery.
Everyone buzzing my tale. Calling gorilla talk fake, lies, etc.
Knew it'd come—recorded it, assholes.
Uploaded gorilla speech clips. Cheonma translated all, but doubters galore.
No edits or AI here anyway.
If there was, it'd be wild. Skimmed comments.
└Translation fake wtf
└Ffs
└Wtf
└Bitch
“……”
Nah. Humans same everywhere.