Luck's Favor (3)
Dragon scent was a shame to miss, but there was no helping it. I had to avoid contact with the gorilla pack as much as possible. As Cain said, there was too much aura in my body—they'd notice right away, and our relations weren't exactly friendly anyway. At least it was a relief that Kkobong had mostly let go of his revenge obsession, but who knew. Even if Kkobong was fine with it, some of them might not be. In fact, hadn't the leader gorilla been forced to exile him because the pack protested so strongly?
[But I don't get it. Just how strong are those gorillas?]
"Huh? Didn't I tell you?"
[I don't know. Do you know, Ludwig?]
"#%%^^@."
[Ludwig says he only knows the territory...?]
Come to think of it, I hadn't explained properly. I'd just vaguely warned them to be careful because there were a lot of gorillas in this area. Might as well fill them in on everything that went down with the gorillas now. And while I'm at it, I could discuss the Blood Cult with Ludwig too.
'Weird that I haven't mentioned it until now.'
I was the only one who knew the outside news. I kept forgetting to share. Familiarity is scary like that. From now on, I should mention any big updates that catch my eye.
"So, basically what happened was..."
I explained everything about the gorilla pack. It was too long to summarize shortly, so Cain had to translate in the middle. Ludwig could roughly understand my words, but only for short stuff—explaining the full story naturally dragged on.
[I thought there was just that one talking gorilla.]
"Why'd you think it was only Kkobong?"
[He's an unusually mutated one, right? Figured that's why his intelligence stood out.]
Ludwig nodded in agreement. This is why info sharing matters. I scratched my head awkwardly and continued.
"Do you know about the Blood Cult, Ludwig?"
"Yes. Murder鬼 group. Famous."
How famous was the Blood Cult that even El Dorado had heard of them? It wasn't just Gallery rumors—the Church had to warn about them as a major force. But since the Immortal King incident was so recent, they hadn't been able to intervene much. If not for the Immortal King, the previous Hero would've gone after them personally, apparently.
'Makes sense—it shook an entire nation.'
From the Zhongyuan imperial court's perspective, it was like their thorns in the side had conveniently wiped themselves out. The problem was that it dumbed down the overall level of martial artists. And as time passed, the Demon Cult started gaining power.
"Anyway, that gorilla pack is connected to the Blood Cult. You could call them successors, in a way."
"...Successors? Gorillas?"
"Yeah."
"...."
Ludwig looked speechless at the idea of gorillas as successors. He turned to stare at Kkobong, who was scratching his ass vigorously.
"...Strength okay. Understand."
Yeah. He might not buy it, but he could understand.
"And the Blood Cult came into the Four Seasons Forest to take the leader gorilla as their successor."
"#$$%?"
[Are they crazy fucks? he says.]
"I caught that one."
Ludwig rarely swore, but this one was crystal clear. A totally normal reaction, since the Blood Cult's actions were so far removed from common sense.
"Anyway, best to avoid the gorilla pack as much as possible. They'll probably want to avoid us too."
[What if Blood Cult remnants have infiltrated them?]
"Hmm."
That part worried me a bit. What if coincidences piled up and they had luck as good as mine, slipping into the pack? Gorillas had strong territorial instincts, so outsiders would probably get beaten and chased off. But that was for non-Zhongyuan foreigners. The gorillas understood 'language,' so the situation could change.
'They say meeting someone who speaks your language abroad is a joy—imagine here.'
The leader might even feel goodwill. Or they might not kick old habits and get caught acting like idiots in the pack. Either way, the moment remnants flowed into the gorillas, it'd be a headache.
"Let's eat lunch first and think about it."
Lunchtime, so I headed to the river and caught some fish. Same routine as always, but something was different this time. Plop plop plop—fish were swimming freely through the air toward the river. Not just one, but several flying around.
"Whoa..."
"...."
"Fish fly too."
Ludwig marveled and asked me about it. I snapped to attention and looked upstream. The gorilla territory was that way. What was going on? Or maybe the dragon scent had fallen into the river. That seemed likely. I recovered the fish in the net first and ignored the flying ones. Too lazy to grab the crossbow, and the net haul was plenty.
'Not sure how long the effect lasts, but...'
As long as our shelter stayed safe, that was fine.
So I thought.
"Shaaaa?!"
"Gah?!"
Until the flying shark dive-bombed the shelter.
As always, while deliciously cooking the fish, the shark charged us. Bull-sized, its momentum was terrifying. Of course.
"Kyaaah!"
"Piiiaaak!"
"Roooar!!"
The animals mobbed it and subdued it in seconds after it flipped the table. Shark or not, mess with dinner and pay the price. It twitched a few times and went still. Dead.
[Gonna butcher this one too?]
"Hmm..."
I eyed the bull-sized shark, debating. Free food, but honestly, nah. Tricky to process, and leaving it would be trouble.
'What's shark fin taste like?'
So I checked the Gallery. Asked about shark fin flavor. Surprisingly, it wasn't well-known. Mostly a luxury for Zhongyuan rich folks. Nutritionally meh, and taste-wise, nothing but texture.
[YasaengGrill: Cheonma. Do you like shark fin?]
[Cheonma: You mean fish fins? I know it as a lavish dish.]
[YasaengGrill: (beaten shark photo) Caught a shark. Want it?]
[Cheonma: This lady politely declines. I've already troubled you enough—feels wrong to take more.]
[YasaengGrill: Got it.]
Maybe because we missed the remnants, Cheonma passed. That left two options: the dwarf and SunForever.
'Gotta give this to SunForever.'
I'd gifted him dinosaur hide and eggs last time, but still owed him. Compared to all he'd done for me, it wasn't enough. Especially the shield—that thing was worth a fortune. Might score something else if lucky.
[YasaengGrill: SunForever. Got a gift for you—cool?]
[SunForever: What gift?]
[YasaengGrill: (shark photo) This.]
[SunForever: If my eyes aren't lying, that's a shark?]
[YasaengGrill: This bastard ambushed us mid-meal.]
[SunForever: Shark-man last time, now flying sharks? What next.]
Oh yeah, that happened. The shark-man was probably prime experiment fodder for Olfather by now. Meanwhile, SunForever gratefully accepted, adding it was his first shark fin ever.
[YasaengGrill: You're loaded—first time with shark fin?]
[SunForever: Kinda young for it.]
[YasaengGrill: How old?]
[SunForever: 42.]
Young for a dark elf, sure. But older than me. Gotta stay polite. I wrapped up the chat with SunForever.
[SunForever: Oh right. Here's something in return.]
[YasaengGrill: What?]
[SunForever: You'll see when you get it. Super useful.]
What could it be? Curiosity piqued, but as soon as the chat ended, I checked the item in my hand.
"Oh!"
I gasped the moment I saw it. Perfectly useful for me, just like he said.
"Binoculars?"
A tool for easily observing distant objects: binoculars. Made sense— I'd given Kkobong glasses, so telescopes or binoculars existed too. I fiddled with the era-appropriate design, then held them to my eyes.
Click!
I'd twisted something by accident. And discovered an insane feature: zoom adjustment. Terrifying tech. Adjustable magnification alone meant top-tier craftsmanship.
"Mister."
"?"
"Nose hairs sticking out."
"...."
It showed even that. While Ludwig checked a mirror, I scanned around.
'This is gold.'
Perfect for scouting. Synergy with dinosaur hide? Amazing. I'd done rush jobs, but he gave me treasure-tier stuff.
'Now I feel even more indebted.'
Gotta gift SunForever more often. I carefully set the binoculars down to avoid damage. Wanted to scout right away, but had to hold off.
'At least plant the World Tree sapling before going.'
Plus, practice controlling the aura in my body. With Ludwig's guidance, it'd be quick. Practice was the only way until then.
'Nothing much else to do...'
But training wrapped in 1-2 hours, leaving time to kill. Ludwig said brute-forcing longer sessions dropped efficiency. Efficiency mattered most now. Survival was the goal, even with time to burn.
Gallery scrolling lasted 10 minutes tops. Time dragged.
'Time to make a pickaxe?'
Not a bad idea. Blacksmithing would build strength too. I messaged the dwarf.
[YasaengGrill: Yo. You drinking?]
[PassingDwarf: Nah, working. Why?]
[YasaengGrill: Glad you're working. Wanna try blacksmithing—advice?]
[PassingDwarf: Get an apron first. Want to give you mine, but size issue.]
Solid advice. I bought a fitting apron from the Gallery. Then the dwarf bombarded me with tips: tongs, furnace, anvil, tongs, oil bucket, etc. Anvil had to be separate. Furnace too—had to build my own proper one.
[PassingDwarf: Prep all that, then tell me. Got leftover Mithoricon ingots?]
[YasaengGrill: Yeah.]
[PassingDwarf: Heat one and hammer it. I'll send an anvil.]
[YasaengGrill: Just hammering?]
[PassingDwarf: Watch how the metal spreads. Use mana or not, just don't shatter it.]
Power control was key. Got it. I set up the dwarf's anvil, tossed a Mithoricon ingot into the furnace. Not full melt—just heat to dull red. Then tonged the glowing-hot ingot onto the anvil.
'Just right amount of force, huh?'
To be safe, I infused mana and raised the hammer high.
Claaaang!!
Then smashed down.
BOOM!!!
The ingot exploded.
[PassingDwarf: Oh. Forgot—your ingot's mana might clash with yours and boom.]
[YasaengGrill: (shelter mess photo) Yeah. Thanks.]
[PassingDwarf: Too late. Why not hit lighter?]
[YasaengGrill: Safety rules exist to be ignored, as they say.]
[PassingDwarf: What's that differ from human testing? lol]
Clear facts left me speechless.