The Tiger Dies Lying Down (4)
The explosions I've experienced in my life can be counted on one hand. The first was throwing a grenade in the army—that's when I truly realized how powerful those things are. Aside from that, there's only one other time. Cooking and having oil splatter all over me. Compared to a grenade, it was pathetically weak, but an explosion is still an explosion.
Why am I thinking about all this useless crap? Simple.
"Cough. Cough. What the..."
I never imagined my heart would explode instead of some oil. Good thing I sensed something ominous and reacted fast—otherwise, I'd have taken serious damage.
I hacked up coughs while staring at where my heart used to be.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The heart was still pounding away, making that recent explosion look like nothing. Meanwhile, everything around it was utterly wrecked. Completely trashed.
Thank god I'd moved the meat jars into the cave—otherwise, I'd be in tears.
"Kyuu! Kyu!"
The blast was so intense even Wonmo bolted out of the cave. Her eyes were round as saucers in panic—cutest thing ever.
I told her it was nothing and to go back inside and sleep. Wonmo glanced back and forth between me and the heart with a confused look before heading in.
Ppareumbo's... fine.
Ppareumbo was already hanging off the barricade. The guy's crisis detection was top-notch, so he'd braced ahead of time. Aside from the disaster around the heart, everything else was intact.
Fuck. Even Chinese shit doesn't make hearts explode.
No way Chinese knockoffs explode like this. It wasn't like I'd installed some bomb in the heart—I couldn't make sense of it.
What do you do in a situation like this? Ask the Gallery, obviously.
Heart Exploded
YasaengGrill
(Photo of intact heart and trashed surroundings)
Like Olfather said, I tried splitting the heart, and boom—it exploded. But the heart itself is fine;; Anyone know why?
Living in this world and seeing a heart explode lol;;
└Cheonma First time hearing of a heart exploding. Could be too much internal power packed in.
└YasaengGrill Does too much internal power make it explode?
└Cheonma If the vessel can't handle it, yeah. But considering the tiger survived intact, that's not it. What a fascinating heart.
└SwordTasteStar How did the tiger even contain this heart? Incredible.
└Olfather Did you use aura when trying to split it, by any chance?
└YasaengGrill It was too tough not to. Is that a problem?
└Olfather That only happens with dragon hearts otherwise... Strange. And the blast radius is so narrow too.
└YasaengGrill How bad is a dragon heart?
└Olfather Varies by individual and growth stage, but an adult one could level a small city.
└YasaengGrill whoa whoa whoa whoa living nuke wtf
I let out a hollow laugh. Too bad what I caught was a tiger, not a dragon. A bus-sized tiger. If a dragon had attacked, I'd be dead before I could blink.
└Olfather But it's still weird. Small scale or not, that's a dragon heart phenomenon...
└Cheonma Isn't a dragon the equivalent of a wyrm in Jungwon?
└Olfather Yes, exactly.
└Cheonma In Jungwon, there's an idiom: dragon and tiger clash. Means worthy rivals hard to distinguish. And tigers are called "mountain lords"—so it's possible, no?
└Cheonma. You don't know the difference between dragons and wyrms?
└Cheonma What's the difference? They're both wyrms in the end.
└(Dragon pic) This is a dragon. (Wyrm pic) This is a wyrm. See the difference?
└Cheonma They look similar. Cousins or something?
└sigh;;
└She's that clueless, right?
└Yeah seems so.
└Olfather Interesting perspective. As Cheonma says, dragons and wyrms do share traits. From a species standpoint, yeah, like cousins.
└fr? news to me
└for real? thought that was debated in academia
└Olfather Same principle as termites being closer to roaches or mantises.
└ah lmao
└that clicks now lol
└Olfather Anyway, as Cheonma noted, if tigers in Jungwon rival wyrms, it's not impossible. My lower region's already twitching at the research potential.
└why's your dick twitching lol
└let it be. prof's excited over new material.
└research is prof porn lol
└YasaengGrill So what do I do with it? Just leave it?
└Olfather If I may be so bold, could I borrow that heart for a bit? Just for research, then it's yours.
└YasaengGrill And after?
└Olfather I'll process it so you can absorb all the mana inside. Research material is all I need—no compensation required. I should pay you.
└YasaengGrill Nah, just take it. Hate looking at that creepy thing;;
└Olfather Thank you. Lately, thanks to you, Grills, life's worth living. Haha.
I traded with Olfather right away and handed over the heart. No telling when it'd blow again, and I had no safe storage. Better to let him research it.
And as a bonus, I got this too.
I also got poison-resistance pills from Olfather. Busy day, so lunch was just a Wall Valley Pill.
Lunch done, I ran my Internal Power Method as usual.
Weird. Feels even faster than yesterday?
The mana circulating inside was acting up—way quicker, almost exhilarating. No issues, just a refreshing flow that made me want to keep going.
From fighting to near-death?
Pure speculation. Basics matter more than speed anyway.
Internal Power Method done, now I just wait for StarlightPrincess's post.
Just finished organizing, and one explosion sets me back.
First, clean up the heart-blast mess. No major collapses, thank god...
"No. Fuck, my charcoal!!!"
Now I saw—the charcoal I'd painstakingly gathered was gone. Tears.
Scraped together what I could from the debris, but only about a third. Buy more at auction? Tempting, but I held back.
Yeah. I'll smoke meat soon anyway...
Stay positive. Negativity's no good. Still bittersweet.
I smirked bitterly and prepped firewood. How long to make more charcoal? Sigh, but whatever.
Use the rest for washing hides and clothes first.
Hides for mats or blankets. First butchering, so quality's iffy. Plus slices from Cheonma's sword. Give to SunForever for a new shield? No conscience.
Gotta trim the hides. Too big.
Inconvenient for washing/drying. Gotta process 'em.
Basic hide cleaning done, I logged into the Gallery to check for StarlightPrincess's post.
She posted.
Pinned at the top. Clicked right in.
How to Smoke Meat (Cold Smoking)
StarlightPrincess
(Diagram photo of setting up tripod)
(Diagram photo of fire under tripod)
(Diagram photo of meat on tripod)
Hello, Grills! As promised, here's how to smoke—specifically cold smoking!
For meat salted and dried like yours, that's cold smoking. Set up a tripod like in the pics, light a fire underneath, hang the meat, done! Super easy, right?
Cover the tripod with cloth so smoke doesn't escape. And don't let it get too hot—warm to the touch is perfect.
If this helps, leave a comment! As always, thank you for saving my life.
└YasaengGrill Thanks so much. Upvoted!
└StarlightPrincess Thank you haha Glad it helped. I'll make more elixirs if I get the chance.
└YasaengGrill Uh... need another adult mandrake?
└StarlightPrincess No, for Wonmo haha
└YasaengGrill Ah, yeah. Makes sense for Wonmo.
A bit dazed, but whatever. Priority: build the smoker like she said.
Need decent-sized wood. Worst case, make it myself.
Chopping's easy now. Few axe swings.
Found perfect trees, set 'em up tripod-style. Tied the top tight with rope to prevent collapse. Bought cloth at auction for wrapping. Spending like crazy today. Would've got blankets too, but hides cover it.
Hang meat here, done.
Tied meat with rope, hung in the center. All set.
But one snag: quantity. Tiger meat's massive.
To store it all, gotta smoke it all...
Means more tripods.
Fuck it.
If it lasts long-term, worth it. Added five more. Still not enough, but space limits me.
Crackle! Pop! Snap!
Lit fires under each, smoke billowed up, enveloping the salted meat. Cloth kept smoke in surprisingly well. Should've done this ages ago.
Learned now, good enough.
I stared blankly at the meat donning its smoky coat.
What if no Gallery? Dead long ago.
Why'd I get dumped in the Four Seasons Forestand get the Gallery? Mysteries tangled like yarn.
No time to unravel. Survival first. Escape this place.
Don't get too comfortable.
Familiarity breeds complacency—lose the wonder. I reminded myself. Plus, this mess showed how safe civilization is. Just a break now; escape drive unbroken.
Get up. Dig mandrakes.
PassingDwarf'll post a trade soon. Can't give crab, but adult mandrakes? Gotta.
Just traded with Olfather—24-hour cooldown again.
Anything but cut cooldowns.
Judaek's stubborn. No bribes either.
Any way to shorten trade cooldowns?
*****
BOOM!
A blue flash and massive explosion rocked the area. Not huge, but devastating power—enough to wreck surroundings without total annihilation.
"Cough! Cough! Ahem."
The mage who'd taken it head-on just coughed lightly, unscathed. A bit of soot on his white beard, but meaningless.
He waved the smoke away and peered ahead, eyes barely open.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
At the blast's epicenter: a heart far bigger than a man's head. Pulsing unfazed, defiantly proud.
Thud! Thud!
[Cardir! You okay?!]
[Hurt anywhere?! Heard a huge bang!]
Frantic knocks at the door. Sudden explosion—natural reaction.
"I'm fine, stand down. Just a new experiment."
He brushed off the worried voices. Muffled concern lingered outside, but his focus shifted.
"My god..."
The mage gaped in awe at the heart. Still throbbing, flaunting its vitality.
"What an exquisite heart!"
Thirst for knowledge gleamed in his eyes.