Chapter 57: The Tiger is Dead (4)

The explosions I’ve experienced in my life can be counted on one hand.

The first was when I threw a grenade in the army. That’s when I understood how dangerous it was.

And aside from that, there’s only one more.

When I was cooking and the oil exploded and splashed me.

Compared to a grenade, it’s ridiculous, but an explosion is an explosion.

And why am I thinking about this nonsense right now?

It’s simple.

“Cough… cough… what…”

I never thought I’d see a heart explode instead of oil.

Good thing I reacted quickly when I sensed the danger.

Otherwise, it would’ve ended very badly.

Coughing, I looked at the place where the heart had been.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

As if the explosion had never happened, the heart was still beating.

Meanwhile, everything around it was completely destroyed.

Good thing I had brought the jars with meat inside the cave.

Otherwise, I’d be crying right now.

“Kkyuu! Kkyuu!”

The explosion was so strong that even Wonmo came running out of the cave.

His eyes were wide with shock—he even looked kind of cute.

I told him it was nothing and to go back to sleep.

He looked at me and the heart alternately, confused, then went back inside.

‘The sloth is fine.’

The sloth was already hanging from the barricade.

His instinct for detecting danger is impressive, so he must’ve reacted beforehand.

Except for the mess around the heart, everything was fine.

‘Damn, not even in China do things explode like this.’

Not even exploding Chinese products would do this.

It made no sense.

It’s not like the heart had a bomb inside.

And what do you do in cases like this?

Right, ask in the gallery.

Title) The heart exploded

WildGrills

(I tried to split the heart like AllFather said and it exploded)

But the heart is intact ;;

Does anyone know what’s going on?

I never thought I’d see a heart explode ;;

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) It’s the first time I’ve heard of something like this. Maybe it contains too much internal power.

ㄴWildGrills) If it has too much internal power, does it explode?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) If the vessel can’t handle it, yes. But considering the tiger was alive normally, it doesn’t seem to be that. What a strange heart.

ㄴSwordmaster) How could that tiger contain something like this? Incredible.

ㄴAllFather) Did you use aura when trying to split it?

ㄴWildGrills) It was too hard, I had no choice. Is that a problem?

ㄴAllFather) Except in the case of a dragon’s heart, that shouldn’t happen. How strange. Also, the explosion radius is very small.

ㄴWildGrills) And how strong is a dragon’s heart?

ㄴAllFather) It depends on the individual and its growth, but an adult one can destroy a small city.

ㄴWildGrills) ………

A living nuclear weapon or what?

I let out an incredulous laugh.

But unfortunately, what I killed wasn’t a dragon, but a tiger.

A tiger the size of a bus.

If it had been a dragon, I would’ve died without being able to do anything.

ㄴAllFather) Even so, it’s strange. Even if the scale is small, that phenomenon only occurs with dragon hearts…

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Isn’t the dragon the same as the term “yong” from the central continent?

ㄴAllFather) Yes, that’s correct.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) In the central continent, there is the expression “dragon and tiger in combat.” It means equal rivals. And the tiger is called “king of the mountain” isn’t it possible then?

ㄴHey HeavenlyDemon, don’t you know the difference between a dragon and a “yong”?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) What difference is there? In the end, both are dragons.

ㄴ(Image of dragon) This is a dragon, (image of yong) this is a yong. Do you see the difference?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) They look quite similar. Are they related?

ㄴSigh…

ㄴDoesn’t she know anything?

ㄴYeah, seems like it.

ㄴAllFather) It’s an interesting point. As HeavenlyDemon said, dragons and yong have similarities. From a species perspective, they could be considered related.

ㄴReally? I had no idea

ㄴSeriously? That’s debated even in academia

ㄴAllFather) It’s like saying termites are closer to cockroaches or mantises.

ㄴAh hahaha

ㄴThat explanation makes sense hahaha

ㄴAllFather) In any case, as HeavenlyDemon said, if on the central continent the tiger is comparable to the dragon, it wouldn’t be impossible. This is getting quite exciting for me.

ㄴAnd why does it excite you “down there”? hahaha

ㄴLeave him, he’s a professor. He probably got excited about having something new to research

ㄴFor professors, research is like sex hahaha

ㄴWildGrills) So, what do I do with this? Leave it as is?

ㄴAllFather) With all due respect, could you lend me that heart for a while? I’ll only study it and return it.

ㄴWildGrills) And after researching it?

ㄴAllFather) I’ll process the heart so you can absorb all its energy. I’m only interested in studying it, I don’t need payment. In fact, I should be the one paying you.

ㄴWildGrills) No, keep it. I don’t want to see that horrible thing ;;

ㄴAllFather) Thank you very much. Thanks to you, my life has been more interesting lately.

At that moment, I made the deal with AllFather and handed over the heart.

I didn’t know when it might explode again, so leaving it there was dangerous, and I also had no way to store it.

It was better to give it to AllFather so he could use it for research.

‘And on top of that, I also received this…’

I also received from AllFather a pill that grants resistance to poison.

Since I had a lot to do today, I quickly handled lunch with a fasting pill.

After eating, as always, I started practicing the internal circulation method.

‘This is strange. Is it faster than yesterday?’

The movement of the mana circulating inside me wasn’t normal.

It was much faster.

It seemed strange, but I didn’t find anything problematic.

On the contrary, it felt so refreshing that I wanted to keep doing it.

‘Could it be because I fought to the brink of death?’

It’s just a guess.

Anyway, the important thing is the foundation, so I didn’t give importance to the speed.

When I finished, the only thing left to do was wait for DemonPrincess to post.

‘After organizing everything, a single explosion made me redo it all…’

First, I cleaned up the entire mess caused by the heart’s explosion.

Luckily, there was no serious damage.

“Are you kidding me! My charcoal!!!”

When I realized it, all the charcoal I had worked so hard to gather had been blown away.

I almost cried.

I managed to recover what was scattered, but I barely got a third back.

Should I buy more at the auction?

I almost did, but held myself back.

‘Well, I’ll be smoking meat soon anyway…’

I tried to think positively.

Having a negative mindset doesn’t help.

Even so, I couldn’t help but feel bitter.

I smiled with resignation as I prepared firewood.

How much work will it take to make more charcoal with this?

I sighed, but let it go.

‘With the charcoal I have left, I should clean the leather and clothes first.’

I planned to use the leather as a rug or blanket.

Since it was my first time skinning something, the quality wasn’t very good.

Plus, it had cuts from HeavenlyDemon’s sword.

Give it to SunForEver to get another shield?

That would be too shameless.

‘I’ll have to trim it. It’s too big.’

Otherwise, it would be inconvenient to wash and dry.

After cleaning the leather more or less, I entered the gallery.

I wanted to see if DemonPrincess had already posted.

‘Yes, she already uploaded it.’

It was pinned at the very top.

I entered without hesitation.

Title) How to smoke meat (cold smoking)

DemonPrincess

(explanatory images with tripod, fire, and hanging meat)

Hello, WildGrills.

As I mentioned before, I will explain how to smoke meat, more specifically cold smoking.

The method where you first remove moisture from the meat with salt and then smoke it is called cold smoking.

You only need to set up a tripod like in the image, light a fire underneath, and hang the meat.

It’s very easy!

That said, it’s better to cover the tripod with cloth so the smoke doesn’t escape.

You should also be careful with the temperature—it shouldn’t be too high. Just enough to feel warm.

If it helped you, leave a comment.

And as I always say, thank you for saving me.

ㄴWildGrills) Thank you very much for the explanation. Leaving my like.

ㄴDemonPrincess) Thanks haha, I’m glad it helped. If I get the chance, I’ll make more elixir for you.

ㄴWildGrills) Uh… do you need another adult mandrake?

ㄴDemonPrincess) No. It’s for Wonmo haha

ㄴWildGrills) Ah… I see.

Is it for Wonmo?

It left me a bit confused, but I didn’t dwell on it.

Right now, what mattered was setting up the smoker.

‘I need wood of the right size. If not, I’ll make it myself.’

Chopping wood was no longer difficult.

A few swings of the axe and it was done.

I searched for suitable logs and arranged them into a tripod shape.

Then I tightly tied the top with rope so it wouldn’t collapse.

I bought the cloth to cover it at the auction.

I’m spending quite a lot today.

I was thinking of buying a blanket, but since I had leather, I used that instead.

‘All that’s left is to hang the meat.’

I tied the meat with rope and hung it in the center.

Everything ready.

But an unexpected problem appeared the quantity.

There was so much tiger meat that it was hard to decide.

‘If I want to preserve it, I have to smoke it all…’

For that, I’d need more tripods.

‘Well, I’ll do it.’

If it’s for preserving food long-term, it’s worth it.

I set up about five more tripods.

Even so, it wasn’t enough.

But I couldn’t continue, because I ran out of space.

Crackle! Crackle!

I lit a fire under each tripod to generate smoke.

The smoke slowly rose and wrapped around the salted meat.

By covering it with cloth, surprisingly not much smoke escaped.

I should’ve done this earlier.

‘Well, at least now I know.’

I stood there watching the meat slowly absorb the smoke.

What would’ve happened if I didn’t have the gallery?

I’d probably already be dead.

Why did I end up in the Forest of the Four Seasons—and with the gallery on top of that?

Questions piled up like a tangled mess of threads.

But I couldn’t think about that now.

I had no room for it.

What mattered was surviving.

Getting out of here was the priority.

‘I must not get used to this.’

I must not let familiarity make me forget what’s important.

Now I understood how safe civilization is.

This is only a temporary stop.

My intention to escape remains unchanged.

‘Come on. Get up. Time to gather mandrakes.’

The dwarf will start the trade soon.

I couldn’t give him the crab, but at least I have to give him an adult mandrake.

I had just traded with AllFather, so I had to wait for the 24-hour cooldown again.

‘At least they could reduce that time…’

The moderator is very stubborn, impossible to convince.

And even if I wanted to bribe him, he wouldn’t accept it.

‘Is there any way…?’

Some way to reduce that cooldown even a little.

***

Boooom!

With a blue flash, a large explosion erupted.

The scale of the explosion wasn’t very big or very small, but its power was terrifying.

It didn’t completely wipe everything out, but it was more than enough to devastate the surroundings.

“Cough, cough… cough.”

However, the mage who took the explosion head-on only coughed a little and remained unharmed.

Although his white beard had some soot, it was nothing serious.

The mage waved his hand to disperse the smoke.

Then he opened his eyes with difficulty and looked forward.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

At the center of the explosion was a heart, much larger than a person’s head.

Despite the explosion, it continued beating without any issue.

As if saying something like that wasn’t enough to affect it, it beat with complete arrogance.

Boom… Boom…

[Lord Kadir! Are you alright!]

[Are you hurt?! We heard a dangerous sound!]

Several people knocked urgently on the door.

It was a natural reaction, considering there had been a sudden explosion.

“I’m fine, so stand down. I was just conducting a new experiment.”

The mage calmly dismissed those who were worried about him.

Even though concerned voices could still be heard on the other side of the door,
his attention was already completely focused elsewhere.

“My goodness…”

The mage looked at the heart with an expression of astonishment.

The heart continued beating strongly, as if flaunting its vitality.

“What an extraordinary heart!”

In the mage’s eyes shone an intense thirst for knowledge.