Traces (1)
I need to correct what I said about eels. Natural muscle-enhancing drugs. That phrase fit them perfectly. Sure, they had side effects—not just a little, but a lot—but they were tolerable. Best of all, unlike real drugs, they weren't temporary. The chances were high they'd be permanent.
"Stamina itself goes up, no matter what they say about virility or whatever."
It was just folklore, but eels were good for everyone—men, women, young, old. If something good for men wasn't good for women, that'd be weird. Just think of them as energy supplements, and it's easier. In the Four Seasons Forest, they boosted not just energy but overall physical abilities.
If I hadn't had the Internal Power Method, I would've been in deep shit.
But anything you can't digest properly just gives you indigestion. If Cheonma hadn't taught me the Internal Power Method, hadn't given me the incantation, that part of me would've exploded.
The Internal Power Method has zero downsides when trained properly.
It recovered fatigue. It increased mana. It repaired any bodily damage. Perfect in every way, no shortcomings. I'd have to train even harder from now on.
"Heave-ho."
I repositioned the barricades one by one. With my increased strength, it took far less time than before.
I'll put the one from the dwarf here.
After repositioning, I headed into the cave for other tasks. First up: updating the map. I marked the ocean's location. It wasn't just the sea—there were plenty of reverse-flowing rivers too. I couldn't tell where they led yet, so I left wide blank spaces.
Even that river nearby split into two at the end.
The problem was where those rivers flowed: somewhere pretty terrifying. I heard a "wooo-ooo-ooo!" sound echoing—was it a monkey troop? I really didn't want to go, but the odds were high I'd have no choice.
What form of evolution did the monkeys go through?
Basically, animals started by getting bigger. Most I'd encountered so far were huge. Monkeys, famous for high intelligence among animals—what had they become? I'd imagined it before, but I hoped they hadn't turned out as bizarre as that shark-man last time.
First, I need to head up the river and check.
With the barricades done, I checked how many fish we'd caught. Three overnight—a bountiful haul. Sometimes we got unexpected food (like turtle eggs), so it was adding up bit by bit.
Breakfast will be turtle eggs.
Better not leave them sitting around to go to waste. Stuff like this was best dealt with quickly. Ostrich-egg sized, they'd fill me up nicely.
Sunny-side up it is, I guess?
Even with a spatula, flipping was impossible. Too big, as I said. After some thought, I settled on sunny-side up. Those were tasty anyway.
So I oiled the large iron pan lightly, waited for the bonfire to heat it, then cracked the egg. Pop! Pop-pop! Crack!
"Huh?"
It didn't crack easily. Pretty tough. Guess the bigger size meant a thicker shell. Worried the oil would splatter, I hurried to grab the hammer.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"What the hell."
Even the hammer barely dented it. The shell was iron-tough. Even easing up on the force didn't help. No sign of breaking. Looked like it'd evolved so beasts couldn't steal it while the parent was away.
Doesn't that make it hard for the baby to hatch too?
Only the strong survive, huh? Brutal race from birth.
In the end, I had to use aura to crack it. Sizzle!
But my efforts paid off—the egg started cooking beautifully. Enough to fill the whole huge pan. I sprinkled salt on top. That'd amp up the flavor. Salt was god.
Should've grabbed one more back then?
Of course, it'd have been too heavy to move properly. I chuckled, then pulled the pan off the fire once the sunny-side up was done. Too big to plate like fish. I'd have to cut and eat it steak-style.
I prepped knife and fork, sliced the edge. Even sunny-side up, the crispy-fried edges were key. Crunch—the fried rim, the egg white's clean blandness, tied together by the salty finish. Objectively, fish tasted better, but eggs were special. Especially wild-caught, not from auction.
Pop! I burst the neatly placed yolk in the center. Used it as sauce with the white. The yolk wasn't greasy—just mysteriously addictive.
"Whoa. Delicious."
I devoured the whole pan. Wiping my mouth with paper was a bonus. Not quite steak, but bacon-like. How great was this taste? Eels too—the Four Seasons Forest's food was mostly excellent.
Salt makes the biggest difference.
Salt was cheat among cheats. Without it, no such joy. Moments like this really drove home the Gallery's value. No Gallery, and finding salt would've been insane work.
Or I'd be dead already.
With cleanup done, I checked the time. Barricades first meant it was 9 a.m. I usually started the day at 8.
Plenty of time left, stuff to pick up—morning training it is.
First, that item from yesterday I hadn't claimed: the inner core storage jar from SmartMine. Sounded dubious, but she'd offered, so I'd take it.
If it's a scam, just cut off trades.
Inner cores were everywhere. Every fish gut yielded one. I had nearly ten already. One wouldn't hurt.
SmartMine-nim, trade request.
YasaengGrill
If you see this, trade please. Too busy yesterday.
About five minutes later, a message. I'd been waiting, so I accepted right away.
SmartMine: Hello, Grill-nim. First, thanks for accepting the trade.
Comments and speech are night and day?
SmartMine: Politeness to benefactors is my ironclad rule.
No plans to be your benefactor.
SmartMine: Considering inner core value, you qualify.
What a weird concept. Or maybe genuine courtesy. Gallery had all types—this was tame. Look at Cheonma. Politeness might even be convenient. At least she scored points.
So, what's this inner core storage jar?
SmartMine: A vial emitting cold qi when infused. Think mini-fridge.
If mana-maintained, why not just buy a fridge...?
SmartMine: Qi use is minimal. Hard to craft, so reserved for valuables.
You can give this away?
SmartMine: Money buys this; inner cores, not so much.
Got it. Rarity thing. KingLeor once gave a light-magic orb. Fantasy cold vial? Whatever.
Overthinking hurts the head. Fine. Won't break?
SmartMine: Low chance, but if so, tell me. I'll fix it.
Thanks. Here's today's inner core—hope it's a good trade.
SmartMine: My honor.
Honor, really. I wrapped up with the impeccably polite SmartMine. Then got the vial as described.
What script is this?
Unfamiliar characters on it. Smaller than an elixir bottle, pinky-length. Thick enough for cores, but no chill from the top.
Scammed?
A bit anxious, I tested. Pulled the glass stopper—cold qi seeped out. Maybe just cold air? Waited 30 seconds. Still chilling.
Neat.
No mini-fridges, but this exists. Mana cost or whatever—I didn't care. Good is good. Dumped all my saved cores in. Surface frosted white instantly.
Cores' mana leaking out amps the cold?
Something like that. Storage solved. I stood and started training: sword and shield, as always. Planned once daily.
Precisely when Wonmo sleeps.
Wonmo was sprawled belly-up, deep in slumber. Because I was near? Or still innocent of wild dangers? No clue.
But cute anyway.
Wonmo was a baby. Babies needed protecting. Plus, I'd killed her mom. Even if Mom attacked first... Once decided to raise her, responsibility kicked in.
Training's training, but how to boost reaction speed?
Glancing at Ppareumbo during drills. Didn't covet his agility, dynamic vision, reactions. Just enough to cope.
Snakes are the worst.
Snakes: nimble, stealthy. Slower than Ppareumbo, but needed countermeasures. Faster reactions never hurt—meant counterattack chances.
Gallery time.
How to improve reaction speed?
Reaction speed exercises?
YasaengGrill
Want to boost reaction speed. Good exercises?
└Cheonma Don't you have Ppareumbo?
└YasaengGrill Why him?
└Cheonma Sparring should raise it naturally, I thought.
└YasaengGrill I'd die if I screw up;;
└SwordTasteStar Simple for reaction speed. Focus on nerve-stimulating exercises.
└YasaengGrill No idea what that means.
└SwordTasteStar Throw a bouncy ball hard at a wall. Catching it naturally improves.
└YasaengGrill If it hits me?
└SwordTasteStar Then it hits.
└YasaengGrill Teacher?;;
└SwordTasteStar No joke, it's one of the best methods.
└StarlightPrincess Nothing comes to mind. Seems best for your situation.
└ChangguPrincess I can give you a ball~
└PassingDwarf You got elixirs—face hit's fine, right?
└YasaengGrill You try it.
└PassingDwarf Tried falling rocks?
└YasaengGrill Fair enough.
Ended up following SwordTasteStar: ball against wall. Got one from ChangguPrincess. Slightly smaller than a baseball.
Wait—have Ppareumbo throw instead?
Bouncing wrong could hit sleeping Wonmo. Handed it to him.
"Here, Ppareumbo. Got a job for you."
"……."
"Throw this at me, no warning. But fast. Got it?"
*Why should I?* His face asked.
I dropped a solid reason. "Makes the rice tree tougher. Good for you too, right?"
"……."
He nodded. How did I even communicate? Whatever—we headed outside for training. Ppareumbo was slow even exiting; I carried him.
"Throw."
"……."
Slowly drew arm back. So slowly, painfully so. I endured. No knowing when it'd fly.
"Damn it."
Even the forward thrust was sluggish—had to curse. Irritated, I shifted foot.
Whoosh!
Ppareumbo snapped his arm forward—in a blink. Smack!
"Gah!"
Ball to the face. No guard, slow reactions: disaster. Fury surged, but my fault too—no yelling.
"O-one more..."
"……."
"One more. Gentler throw."
For survival, escape—what couldn't I do? Sometimes you grit teeth and bear.
Thwack!
"Urk!"
And now was that time.