Chapter 46

Lakeside (1)

The internal energy cultivation method really did seem to have a fatigue-recovery effect.

Even if I replaced sleep with cultivation, I would still be full of energy the next day.

Well, it still wasn’t perfect, so mental fatigue was harder to get rid of.

Physical fatigue was manageable enough, but mental fatigue could only really be resolved through sleep.

[XXX has requested a trade. Would you like to accept?]

[@@@ has requested a trade. Would you like to accept?]

[I’ll Become a Duke has requested a trade. Would you like to accept?]

“What is all this now?”

The moment I logged into the gallery, countless trade request windows floated before my eyes.

Had something happened again while I was away?

Just in case, I searched my own name, but nothing particularly noteworthy came up.

The only thing was that my credibility had skyrocketed because of yesterday’s incident.

It seemed the fixed users who had previously hesitated because of trust issues were now sending me trade requests because of that.

‘Seriously, these people... I keep telling them I’m as fragile as a sunfish.’

Or were they trying to suck me dry to the marrow before I actually ended up dead?

From what I had heard, even a single mature Mandrake was worth an enormous amount.

Apparently, they figured that even if I didn’t have another inner core, one mature Mandrake alone would be enough to make a trade worthwhile.

‘At least offer something that would tempt me.’

I searched the names of the fixed users who had sent me trade requests.

Some of their accounts had only been created recently, while others had surprisingly long histories of activity.

Especially this I’ll Become a Duke person.

If I remembered correctly, they had sent me a trade request before too.

I had to admire the persistence, but right now, it was mostly just annoying.

‘And they didn’t even make a post.’

I had already said this last time.

If someone offered something I needed, I would be the one to initiate the trade.

Apparently, they had already forgotten.

With no other choice, I made another post.

Title: Let Me Say This Again

Wild Grylls

I woke up to countless handshake requests... no, trade requests.

Like I said before, I have no intention of trading unless you offer something that will actually help me.

If you want to trade, post what you’re offering first.

I’ll look at it and decide.

↳ Heavenly Demon: You are awake. Is there anywhere that feels uncomfortable?

↳ Wild Grylls: I feel way more refreshed when I sleep while practicing the internal energy cultivation method.

↳ Heavenly Demon: Naturally. That is the effect of circulating and regulating your qi. Your foundation is still lacking, but once you reach full mastery, you will remain perfectly well even without sleep.

↳ Wild Grylls: Wow.

↳ Starlight Princess: You’re awake! Is today Day 5?

↳ Wild Grylls: Yeah. If I had my way, I’d escape as soon as possible.

↳ Starlight Princess: There’s a saying that the more urgent you are, the more you should take the long way around. I made another elixir today, so I’ll send you a trade request in a little while!

↳ Wild Grylls: Huh? Didn’t you already give me all the elixirs?

↳ Starlight Princess: This one is for animals. Please use it on Wonmo and the Sloth. One picture of Wonmo is more than enough payment, so please accept it!

↳ Wild Grylls: Thank you. You’ve been feeling healthy, right?

↳ Starlight Princess: Like I told you before, I feel like I’ve been reborn. My parents are still worried, though.

↳ Wild Grylls: Parents are always like that. Just in case, take your rehabilitation slowly.

↳ Starlight Princess: Thank you. I’ll keep cheering you on from now on. You can do it!

↳ Wild Grylls: Thank you, haha.

↳ Passing Dwarf: Hey. I finished the fish trap. Hurry up and present this great one with some drinking snacks.

↳ Wild Grylls: Before the snacks, there’s something I want to ask you for.

↳ Passing Dwarf: What is it? I’m not doing it for free.

↳ Wild Grylls: I do have a conscience. I need a scabbard, and I need one that’s seriously durable.

↳ Passing Dwarf: A scabbard? Just buy any old one.

↳ Wild Grylls: The sword the Heavenly Demon gave me is too good. It cuts through wood like tofu.

↳ Passing Dwarf: Ah. There are swords like that sometimes. I’ll send you one to use temporarily along with the fish trap. If you want a proper one, bring me something good in exchange.

↳ Wild Grylls: I’ll trade with Starlight Princess first, then I’ll take yours.

↳ Princess Cheonggu: Hellooo! The pants I mentioned yesterday are ready!

↳ Wild Grylls: Thank you so much. When’s your next match?

↳ Princess Cheonggu: Pretty soon! It’s Boxing Day, so we have one about every three days!

↳ Wild Grylls: I hope you win. Go, Cheonggu!

↳ Princess Cheonggu: Thank youuu!

It really did pay to live kindly.

There were people leaving comments for me first thing in the morning.

Of course, I wasn’t entirely without worries.

If the head moderator saw this, they might think it counted as excessive fraternizing.

The rules specifically said that too much personal bonding was prohibited.

That made things awkward.

‘They must know the Heavenly Demon gives me special treatment too.’

Apparently, this much was tolerated.

Or maybe it was because my circumstances were unusual.

[Starlight Princess has requested a trade. Would you like to accept?]

After announcing the start of my day like that, Starlight Princess was the first to send a trade request.

Before accepting, I looked over at Wonmo.

He was still sprawled out asleep.

The funny part was that he had stretched his entire body out flat like a person.

Apparently, when an animal slept like that, it meant it felt safe in its surroundings.

That gave me a strange feeling.

[Starlight Princess has registered trade items.]

[Starlight Princess: I put in one animal-use elixir and another gift too!]

[Wild Grylls: Huh? Another gift?]

[Starlight Princess: I think you’ll like it. So, where’s the picture?]

[Wild Grylls: (Photo of Wonmo sleeping sprawled out flat) Is this enough?]

[Starlight Princess: He’s so cute! How can he even sleep like that?]

[Wild Grylls: I thought it was amazing too.]

[Starlight Princess: I hope you continue to stay safe! You can do it!]

That was the end of my conversation with Starlight Princess.

I checked the items she had given me.

She had called it an animal-use elixir, but judging by the way it glowed golden, it looked like an ordinary elixir no matter how I looked at it.

I wasn’t even sure whether animal-specific elixirs existed in the first place.

I decided to just think of it as a gift.

And then there was the other item.

The thing she had confidently claimed I would like was actually a little surprising.

‘Cake?’

A slice of cake sat on top of a glass plate decorated with an elegant design.

Soft-looking sponge cake covered in whipped cream, with a small strawberry perched on top.

She had even thoughtfully included a fork to make it easier to eat.

I swallowed and picked it up.

“Damn...”

The moment I put a small bite of cake into my mouth, an exclamation escaped me.

The sweetness spread throughout my entire mouth.

The distinctive sugary taste stimulated my tongue.

I sprinkled salt on fish whenever I ate it, so I hadn’t forgotten what saltiness tasted like.

But it had been a long time since I’d tasted something so sweet it practically made my tongue tingle.

‘She really knows what people like.’

I set the cake aside for a moment and logged back into the gallery.

There were still fixed users I needed to trade with.

The next person to send me a request after Starlight Princess was Passing Dwarf.

He seemed like the kind of person who would handle exactly what needed to be done and move on.

[Passing Dwarf has registered trade items.]

[Passing Dwarf: Put in the fish trap and a temporary scabbard. You know how to install the trap, right?]

[Wild Grylls: Yeah. I’m thinking of widening the spot where I inserted the hose.]

[Passing Dwarf: That should work. Deal with the scabbard however you want, but make sure you give me snacks for my drinks. Got it?]

[Wild Grylls: Do you like sashimi?]

[Passing Dwarf: My mouth’s already watering.]

[Wild Grylls: But I’m not very good at slicing sashimi lol.]

[Passing Dwarf: You fucking bastard.]

[Wild Grylls: Anyway, I’ll do my best. Thanks for the stuff.]

Once the trade was complete, I checked the items I had received from the dwarf.

‘Why the hell is this fish trap so huge?’

The fish trap was enormous.

It was almost as big as my entire body.

I was a little taken aback, but that might actually be better.

Considering the size of the fish I had caught so far, it was probably about right.

‘Installing this is going to take a while. I’ll do it after I’m done exploring.’

I decided to postpone setting up the fish trap.

It felt like I would waste the whole morning just installing it.

The next thing to check was the scabbard.

The temporary scabbard the dwarf had mentioned was inside the fish trap.

‘It looks like an ordinary scabbard.’

It was a plain black scabbard, roughly the same size as the Heavenly Demon’s sword.

I picked up the Heavenly Demon’s sword from where it rested against the wall and slid it inside.

Shhk—click!

The sword went in smoothly without catching anywhere.

He had said it was only temporary, but I was more than satisfied.

It even came with a belt, so it looked useful in all sorts of situations.

‘That dwarf is surprisingly nice, too.’

I chuckled and contacted the next person I had to trade with.

Next up was Princess Cheonggu.

[Wild Grylls: Go, Cheonggu! Don’t get too discouraged even if the slump lasts a while! No one stays on top forever!]

[Princess Cheonggu: Thank youuu! I’ll give you another special uniform too!]

[Wild Grylls: Whose is it this time?]

[Princess Cheonggu: It belonged to a legendary midfielder named Sun! He’s unusual because he’s from the Central Plains!]

[Wild Grylls: Thank you! Can’t I watch Cheonggu’s matches through the gallery?]

[Princess Cheonggu: You have to pay for broadcast magic, so only the highlights will get uploaded!]

[Wild Grylls: That’s too bad. I wanted to watch one of your matches.]

[Princess Cheonggu: I’d love to let you watch too, but broadcasts probably won’t work in the Forest of Four Seasons. But why do you want to watch?]

[Wild Grylls: I feel like I’m always the one receiving things. I wanted to show you that I’m genuinely cheering for you.]

[Princess Cheonggu: Kyaaah...! What a wonderful attitude! Such an admirable mindset! I really hope you escape soon!]

[Wild Grylls: Thank you. If I find anything good, I’ll send it to you right away.]

What kind of item would Princess Cheonggu like?

That was something worth thinking about.

For now, I checked what she had sent me.

Just as she had said, there were long pants and a uniform shirt.

The pants were made of the same highly elastic material as the uniform.

And she had sent not one pair, but two.

I smiled in satisfaction and put them on.

They definitely felt different right away.

‘I could probably live in just these.’

It reminded me of the days when I used to lounge around at home wearing nothing but tracksuits.

I tossed the pants I had been wearing until now into a corner of the cave.

From now on, those would be my emergency pair.

‘Now that all the trades are done, time for the cake... Huh?’

My excitement at the thought of enjoying the cake lasted only a moment.

I had definitely eaten only one bite.

So why was the plate completely empty?

I blinked at the incomprehensible sight and looked around.

Wonmo was still sleeping soundly on the mat.

That only left the Sloth...

“...”

“...Hey.”

At my voice, the Sloth tilted its head.

The sheer shamelessness of its behavior made anger rise inside me.

“Maybe wipe the cream off your mouth first?”

“...”

Only then did the bastard start feeling around its mouth.

There wasn’t just a tiny speck of whipped cream there.

A huge glob was smeared all over it.

The Sloth looked at the cream now stuck to its claw, then very slowly brought it to its mouth.

“...”

“Munch, munch.”

Was there anything in the world more infuriating than this bastard?

The worst part was that I had no way to beat it in a fight.

In the end, there was only one thing I could do.

“You little bastard!!!”

Roar at it at the top of my lungs.

It seemed to work surprisingly well, because the Sloth covered its ears.

“Kkyuak?!”

Ah.

Right.

Wonmo was here too.

When Wonmo jolted awake in fright, I immediately felt terrible.

‘This is all the Sloth’s fault.’

Thinking that to myself, I gently soothed Wonmo.

Fortunately, Wonmo just looked bewildered and didn’t seem to understand what had happened.

“Wonmo. Want breakfast?”

“Kkyuu!”

Even if he had understood, the whole incident probably would have ended the moment I offered him breakfast anyway.

I gave Wonmo some meat and stepped outside.

When I opened the hose, water came pouring out beautifully.

Unfortunately, it didn’t look like any fish had been caught.

‘Guess I should get ready.’

I had another fasting pill for breakfast.

Maybe because I had tasted something sweet just moments ago, the bitterness seemed especially strong today.

‘Should I ask her for another one?’

That felt far too shameless, so I gave up on the idea.

The day had only just started, yet I already felt drained.

‘Please let me find somewhere with plenty of food.’

That was my small wish.

I sighed and finished preparing.

The Sloth might be annoying as hell, but it was the only one capable of protecting Wonmo while I was gone.

I decided to think of the cake as payment for all the time it had spent guarding the cave.

That made me feel a little better.

“Hey, Sloth.”

When I called out, it tilted its head.

“I’m heading out. Guard the house properly while I’m gone, got it? You’ve got to earn the price of that cake.”

“...”

Flap. Flap.

The Sloth lazily waved its arms as if to say it understood.

I chuckled at the response and finished the rest of my preparations.

At my waist were the scabbard containing the Heavenly Demon’s sword and a small bag.

In my left hand, I carried the Golden Shield in case I was suddenly attacked.

I kept my right hand free so I could maintain my balance if something unexpected happened.

‘And I should circulate the cultivation method before leaving.’

Once I had properly circulated the internal energy cultivation method, all that remained was to depart.

With a tense heart, I started walking toward the river.

Once I reached it, I planned to follow the flow downstream.

‘Hopefully I can find some clue that’ll help me escape.’

Whether the world understood my hopes or not...

Or perhaps some god of this world was deliberately screwing with me.

“Ah, fuck.”

After following the river downstream, I couldn’t help swearing at the environment spread out before me.

It wasn’t like the other side of the river, where space itself changed in real time.

This place was clearly connected to the river.

The problem was simply that the environment itself was ridiculous enough to make me curse.

“Is this the ocean or a lake?”

An immense lake stretched out before my eyes.