Chapter 68: Guardian (1)

Title) A vigorous and energetic morning!

WildGrills

Today marks the beginning of day 9!

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) You’re already awake. What are you planning to do today?

ㄴWildGrills) First, I’m going back to yesterday’s cave. I want to confirm whether the whole cave is filled with orichalcum.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) If you find more, could you give me some? Having even one doesn’t sound bad.

ㄴWildGrills) If it’s a request from HeavenlyDemon, of course. I’ll give you a big one.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Thank you. Since we’ll be trading, I’ll give you some fasting pills I prepared beforehand.

ㄴWildGrills) Thank you.

ㄴSwordMaster) You really do stay busy every day. I think you’re even busier than me.

ㄴWildGrills) But you could get a job if you wanted to, right?

ㄴSwordMaster) Yeah, but I don’t need to haha

ㄴso jealous, unemployed millionaire

ㄴthat guy literally beat life

ㄴwhile some people work until their bones break, others… sigh

ㄴhe definitely was born noble with a golden spoon lmao

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Ah, right. Another day has passed. What you gave me really was orichalcum.

ㄴWildGrills) Your timing is incredible;; what time did you start getting drunk yesterday?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) From lunch until night. But hey, what was in that fish? When I drank alcohol with it, my whole body started burning;; I slept the entire day because of it.

Ah, right.

It was a fish that contained an internal core.

HeavenlyDemon explained that fish with internal cores were spiritual creatures and spiritual medicines.

So it wasn’t strange for it to cause body heat.

ㄴWildGrills) That happened to me too, but after sleeping a whole day it went away. Does it still hurt?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Other than feeling full of energy, I’m fine. I think I’ll return to the mines for the first time in a while.

Now that I think about it, this guy really is a dwarf.

The image of him being a drunk was so strong that I forgot.

Dwarves are the race of alcohol and mines.

Drinking after mining work was tradition.

And those small bodies were made for working in mines.

That’s what I’d heard.

ㄴWildGrills) I could also use a pickaxe. Any advice?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Don’t put mana into the pickaxe. There could be mana-sensitive minerals.

ㄴWildGrills) Is orichalcum also sensitive to mana?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) More than sensitive, it has absurdly high absorption. Seriously, never use mana.

ㄴWildGrills) Just hearing that sounds exhausting.

ㄴmining is a shitty job haha, there’s a reason it’s one of the hardest jobs in the world

ㄴif the mine collapses you just die

ㄴWildGrills) I’ll just pick up stones lying around instead.

ㄴsurprised this bastard still hasn’t died

ㄴwhen is this bastard gonna die lmao

ㄴhe really is durable

ㄴI’m already tired of him staying alive~

ㄴWildGrills) What’s wrong with these idiots?

That’s how my day began, accompanied by the sweet and poisonous support of users and lurkers.

The best way to start the morning was with a glass of cold water and the fresh forest air.

And on top of that—

“Mooo.”

“……”

Finding myself face to face with a deer far larger than the barricade.

Beautifully glowing blue antlers and completely white fur.

Eyes as clear as crystal water.

I silently stared at it and took a photo for the gallery.

Tap! Tap!

Fortunately, the deer fled the moment our eyes met.

It lightly jumped over the barricade and quickly disappeared into the forest despite its striking appearance.

‘…Did I shrink or something?’

The Owlbear, the fish, the golden frogs, the saber-toothed tiger, the chickens, and now a deer.

Everything was absurdly huge.

Now I understood how Gulliver felt in the land of giants.

It’s scary.

Really scary.

Title) Does anyone know what this deer is?

WildGrills

(photo of a white deer with blue antlers)

I ran into this right after leaving the cave. Does anyone know what it is?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) What a beautiful deer. Its blue antlers are fascinating.

ㄴDemonPrincess) Yesss. Just like my eyes.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) I’ll hit you with a mace.

ㄴDemonPrincess) sorry!!!

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Hmph.

ㄴSwordMaster) Isn’t that abuse of power?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) It is completely fair regulation.

ㄴSwordMaster) the nerve of her;;

ㄴStarlightPrincess) I think I saw that deer in a book before. If I remember correctly, it’s a spirit deer.

ㄴWildGrills) Spirit? Spirits exist too?

ㄴStarlightPrincess) You didn’t know? Where exactly did you live?

ㄴWildGrills) I told you I come from another world…

Maybe I should’ve said I grew up in some remote village.

But then they’d ask how I use the gallery.

Better to keep saying I’m from another world.

ㄴStarlightPrincess) Think of spirits as living mana. Mana that gained its own will.

ㄴWildGrills) That sounds really abstract.

ㄴStarlightPrincess) Do you remember the guardian you met at the beginning?

ㄴWildGrills) The huge stone giant?

I still remembered it perfectly.

The rock I leaned my back against started moving.

And it was gigantic.

If it had stepped on me, I would’ve died instantly.

ㄴStarlightPrincess) It’s not certain, but we believe natural guardians possess spirits.

ㄴWildGrills) And that deer?

ㄴStarlightPrincess) It’s called a spirit deer because it resembles a spirit. Spirits cannot directly influence living beings. In the end, they are still mana.

ㄴWildGrills) Doesn’t it shoot lightning from its antlers?

ㄴStarlightPrincess) A kick would probably hurt more.

ㄴmore than hurt, it’d crush your bones

ㄴGrills, you should let it kick you once. You’ve got a shield and everything

ㄴWildGrills) ;;;

ㄴStarlightPrincess) Ignore those idiots.

Since the forest is saturated with mana, all kinds of creatures appear.

It was a very fantasy-like world, but for me it was dark fantasy.

A place where one mistake means death.

Will I really be able to leave this place alive?

‘First I should worry about staying alive.’

I shook my head and headed toward the river.

I wanted to check the traps.

Splash! Splash!

Exactly two fish had been caught.

And they were huge.

I happily collected the traps.

Now this is easy living.

Rustle—

“Hm?”

While collecting the traps, I heard a noise in the bushes.

Very close.

I immediately went on guard.

I drew my sword and shield while staring intently in the direction of the sound.

“……”

Maybe it was just my imagination.

The sound didn’t happen again.

Even so, I didn’t lower my guard while finishing up with the traps.

One small mistake could cost me my life.

‘Near the river, you always have to stay alert.’

A lot of animals would come to drink water.

Though there seemed to be fewer here because of the golden frogs.

Now I wasn’t so sure anymore.

I had killed quite a few of them.

I returned to the cave while staying alert the entire way.

Fortunately, nothing appeared.

‘I definitely need to keep the Sloth with me at all times.’

Thinking that, I prepared breakfast.

Right then, Wonmo woke up.

I gave him one of the fish.

Of course, I removed the internal core first.

‘…I think he grew.’

I watched Wonmo while he devoured the fish.

Right now, he was wearing the uniform DemonPrincess gave him.

Before, it fit perfectly.

Now it was completely stretched out.

Either he got fatter or he grew.

Or both.

Since he’s still growing, I didn’t think much of it.

‘The bigger he gets, the better.’

People have always said size matters.

So this is fine.

Maybe someday he’ll be bigger than me and help me a lot.

Though who knows when that day will come.

‘Maybe I’ll leave the Four Seasons Forest before then.’

Even if it’s an empty hope, it doesn’t matter.

At times like this, people need hope.

I finished eating and cleaned everything up.

I felt satisfied.

‘Now I’ll use the cultivation method after taking the medicine AllFather gave me.’

I continued using the cultivation method constantly.

Most of all, I focused on the breathing technique.

Training to increase lung capacity overall.

That was the most effective thing.

‘Later I should ask how to increase lung capacity even more.’

Now only one thing remained—go to the orichalcum cave and collect some pieces.

I already knew the path by heart, so there was no way I could get lost.

‘Wonmo…’

Normally, after eating, he would immediately fall asleep.

But this time was different.

He looked at me with those characteristic empty eyes.

He didn’t seem to have any intention of taking a nap.

“Wonmo. You can’t go to strange places, understood?”

“Kyu?”

“Even if you see something delicious, you must not go.”

“Kyu?”

“It’s dangerous.”

Every time I spoke, Wonmo tilted his head while making adorable sounds.

Just like the Sloth, he strangely understood my words, so he would probably follow me properly.

We had already finished breakfast, so I started preparing our things.

As always, the equipment consisted of a sword, shield, and the subspace bag AllFather gave me yesterday.

Inside, I carried the crossbow and various tools.

But I didn’t store fragile things like elixirs.

The bag ignored space, not weight.

As strange as it was, the objects inside could still hit each other and get damaged.

That’s why I put the emergency elixirs and Bigu pills in another pouch.

On the left side of my waist, the pouch with food and elixirs.

On the right, the subspace bag with the crossbow and tools.

‘This should be enough.’

It was a bit heavy, but manageable.

The crossbow was extremely useful for someone like me who had no ranged attacks.

Once I finished preparing, I put the Sloth on my back.

Wonmo was also wearing the stretched uniform and hopping around excitedly so we would leave quickly.

He looked adorable.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go. But don’t wander off, understood?”

“Kyuu!”

Unlike the escape incident, this time the three of us—or rather, one human and two creatures—moved together.

Our destination was the orichalcum cave.

I planned to explore it more thoroughly.

And besides, I had the item KingLeor gave me.

‘Yesterday there wasn’t anything dangerous inside.’

There were bats and snakes, but they weren’t real threats.

And I had elixirs just in case.

Besides, even if I did nothing, Wonmo would probably take care of everything anyway.

Remembering yesterday’s route, I headed toward the cave.

The marks I left were still there, so finding it was easy.

‘I hope I don’t run into the chickens and chicks again.’

I still didn’t understand why the hell there were chickens in the forest.

But I needed to be careful.

Even the chicks were almost my size.

And the hen was much larger than me.

I needed to know the extent of their territory if I wanted to move around safely.

“Sniff sniff.”

“Wonmo. Don’t touch that.”

Wonmo approached a strange plant and started sniffing it.

It was a yellow flower that glowed under the light.

It practically screamed “I’m poisonous.”

I scolded Wonmo and took a photo for the gallery.

It would be better to ask AllFather or StarlightPrincess later.

There was no need to take risks now.

— Kokekokooo!

The powerful cry of a chicken echoed not too far away.

Looks like we had entered their territory.

“Kyuu!”

The moment he heard the sound, Wonmo ran toward me in terror.

He was definitely traumatized by that chick chase.

I patted his head to calm him down and observed the surroundings.

There was nothing especially concerning.

‘There are feathers here.’

Black feathers that probably belonged to the hen.

They were enormous.

I picked one up and stored it in the subspace bag.

It might be useful later.

“We’re here.”

We managed to reach the cave without facing any danger.

As soon as I arrived, I took something out of the normal bag.

The crystal sphere engraved with Light magic that KingLeor gave me.

He said all I had to do was tap it several times to activate it.

Tap tap—

Just as he explained, something strange happened.

The sphere began emitting a bright light, and then that light floated into the air.

The sphere remained in my hand, but the light stayed suspended above my head.

It was a fascinating sight.

“Wooow!”

I stared in amazement at the floating light.

As if I had become a child again.

They said it lasted a full hour, so exploring would be easy.

‘Much brighter than a torch. Excellent.’

With this, I wouldn’t have trouble exploring dark places.

Excited, I entered the cave.

Wonmo also followed behind me, hopping around.

Soon after, we reached the slope leading down into the orichalcum cave.

The rope I installed yesterday was still there, so we carefully descended.

“Hm?”

The moment I got down, I felt something strange.

As if the arrangement of the rocks had changed slightly.

But without photos to compare, it was hard to be sure.

‘Am I imagining things?’

I tilted my head while looking around.

The cave was still glowing.

Since I had light now, I took photos and uploaded them to the gallery.

Title) Orichalcum cave

WildGrills

(photo of the cave filled with orichalcum)

(photo of a chunk of orichalcum)

(photo of orichalcum picked up from the ground)

What do you think? The glowing stuff really is orichalcum, right?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) What a beautiful cave. A cave filled with divine metal.

ㄴSwordMaster) It truly is beautiful. So what will you do now?

ㄴWildGrills) Not sure. Maybe collect some stones and explore a bit. There doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous.

ㄴSwordMaster) Even so, be careful. Natural caves usually contain many monsters.

Monsters.

After reading that, I looked around.

Aside from bats and small animals, I couldn’t see anything alive.

And from what I could see, the cave seemed to end here.

Even so, I had to stay alert.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Ahhh, now I really want to go there and mine some ore haha

ㄴWildGrills) Want to come?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) After I finish drinking.

ㄴWildGrills) So you’re not coming, you damn bastard.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Do you think I’m crazy enough to go there? Haha

ㄴAllFather) How interesting. An entire cave formed from orichalcum—what kind of place is the Four Seasons Forest?

ㄴStarlightPrincess) Perhaps it was an area with enormous tectonic changes. Orichalcum appears where mana is abundant.

ㄴAllFather) That’s true, but there is definitely something more. Something that generates extreme mana.

ㄴStarlightPrincess) That makes sense. If even space is distorted, perhaps it’s something superior to the World Tree.

ㄴAllFather) Perhaps. More exploration will be necessary.

ㄴWildGrills) Am I the only one who understands none of this?

ㄴsame here

ㄴno idea lol

ㄴah haha no need to understand

ㄴLetsPlantTrees) There is only one World Tree in this world. The World Tree of Alvenheim.

ㄴwe already know, arrogant elf

ㄴa race living thanks to the World Tree~

ㄴLetsPlantTrees) Then did you receive the blessing of the World Tree? Since you didn’t, all you can do is mock us.

ㄴahhh damn it, that really is irritating haha

ㄴsince it’s true we can’t say anything haha

World Tree or not, what mattered was exploring.

I walked through the cave with Wonmo.

What the hell happened for an entire cave of orichalcum to exist?

I wasn’t an academic.

I wasn’t even born in this world.

All I could think was—

‘How interesting…’

‘They said orichalcum has excellent mana absorption, right?’

I placed my hand on the ground and began circulating mana within my body.

Soon after, the mana flowed out through my hand.

Flash!

But it didn’t rise like a mirage.

Instead, the orichalcum glowed far brighter than before, as if it had truly absorbed the mana.

Just as I pursed my lips in fascination—

Rumble—

Grrrrrk—

Behind me, I heard the sound of rocks grinding together.

The instant I heard it, I flinched and quickly turned around.

“W-wha… huh?”

The rock was moving.

The rock made of orichalcum.

The enormous mineral mass began moving as if it were “standing up,” and eventually rose firmly onto two legs.

Seeing that scene, I slowly stepped backward.

And then, the mass of orichalcum completely rose up, taking on a humanoid shape.

Hummmm—

The “Guardian” appeared before me.