Chapter 57 - When a Tiger Dies (4)

I could count the explosions I’d experienced in my life on one hand. The first was when I threw a grenade in the military. That taught me just how powerful a weapon a grenade was.

Apart from that, there was only one other: some oil popping and splattering me while I was cooking. Pathetic compared to a grenade, sure, but an explosion was an explosion.

There was a simple reason my mind was wandering through all this useless crap.

“Cough, cough. What the...”

Never in my life had I expected to see a heart explode instead of cooking oil.

Thank goodness I’d sensed something was wrong and reacted quickly. Otherwise, I could have been badly hurt. Coughing, I looked toward the spot where I’d left the heart.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

As if that explosion had never happened, the heart was still beating. Everything around it, on the other hand, had literally been blown to pieces. It was all wrecked. If I hadn’t moved the jars of meat inside the cave, I would have cried.

“Kyuuu! Kyu!”

The blast had been powerful enough to send even Roundfur scrambling out of the cave. Those eyes, round with alarm, couldn’t have been cuter.

I told Roundfur it was nothing and to go back inside to sleep. Looking bewildered, the cub glanced between me and the heart before going inside.

‘The speed-sloth is... fine, too.’

At some point, the speed-sloth had climbed onto the barricade and was hanging there. It had an exceptional nose for danger, so it must have prepared ahead of time. Apart from the mess around the heart, everything was fine.

‘Fuck. Not even China has exploding hearts.’

Even Chinese products, which supposedly exploded at the drop of a hat, wouldn’t do this. It wasn’t as if someone had fitted the heart with an explosive device. I couldn’t begin to understand it. What did a situation like this call for? Asking the forum, of course.

The Heart Exploded

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the intact heart and its trashed surroundings)

Tried cutting the heart open like Allfather said, and it exploded.

But the heart itself is completely fine;; Anyone know what’s going on?

Never thought I’d live to see an exploding heart;;

└Heavenly Demon: I have never heard of a heart exploding. Perhaps it contains too much internal energy.

└Wild Gryll: Can too much internal energy make something explode?

└Heavenly Demon: If the vessel cannot withstand it, yes. But considering the tiger was alive and well, that cannot be the case here. What a curious heart.

└Sword Masta: How did the tiger keep that heart inside its body? It really is fascinating.

└Allfather: Did you happen to use aura when you tried cutting it open?

└Wild Grylls: It was so tough I had no choice. Is that a problem?

└Allfather: That should only happen with a dragon heart... How strange. The blast radius is also quite small.

└Wild Grylls: How big is a dragon heart’s explosion?

└Allfather: It depends on the individual and its stage of growth, but an adult’s could blow up a small city.

└Wild Grylls: Holy shit...

Was it a biological nuke or what? I gave a disbelieving laugh. Unfortunately, though, what I’d killed wasn’t a dragon. It was a tiger. A tiger the size of a bus. If a dragon had attacked me, I’d have died before I could do anything.

└Allfather: Still, this is strange. Even on a smaller scale, this phenomenon is unique to dragon hearts...

└Heavenly Demon: Are dragons not what we call eastern dragons in the Central Plains?

└Allfather: Yes, that is correct.

└Heavenly Demon: In the Central Plains, we have a saying: “A dragon and tiger locked in battle.” It means two rivals so evenly matched that neither has the clear advantage. What is more, the tiger is called the “lord of the mountain.” Would that not make it possible?

└Hey, Heavenly Demon. You don’t know the difference between dragons and eastern dragons, do you?

└Heavenly Demon: What difference is there? They are both dragons, after all.

└(Dragon photo) This is a dragon, and (Eastern dragon photo) this is an eastern dragon. See the difference?

└Heavenly Demon: They look alike. Are they related?

└Oh, for crying out loud;;

└She really is clueless, right?

└Yeah, seems like it.

└Allfather: An interesting perspective. As Heavenly Demon says, dragons and eastern dragons have much in common. In terms of species, they are relatives.

└For real? That’s news to me.

└Really? That’s heavily disputed even in academia.

└Allfather: It is the same principle by which termites are closely related to cockroaches and mantises.

└Oh lmao.

└That actually makes perfect sense when you put it that way lol.

└Allfather: In any case, as Heavenly Demon said, tigers are considered comparable to eastern dragons in the Central Plains, so it should not be impossible. I’m already getting hard down below.

└Why the hell are you getting hard lmaooo.

└Leave him alone. He’s a professor. Must be excited about new research material.

└Research material is basically sex to professors lol.

└Wild Grylls: So what do I do with it? Just leave it there?

└Allfather: I hope you will forgive the imposition, but could you lend me that heart for a while? I will return it once I have finished the research I need to do.

└Wild Grylls: And once you’re done researching it?

└Allfather: I will process it so you can consume all the mana it contains. Having research material is reward enough, so there is no need to pay me. If anything, I should pay you.

└Wild Grylls: No, just take it. I don’t want to look at that monstrosity;;

└Allfather: Thank you. You have made life worth living lately, Mr. Grylls. Ho ho ho.

I immediately traded with Allfather and handed over the heart. I was scared to leave it lying around when it might explode at any moment, and I had no way to store it, either. Better to give something like this to Allfather and let him use it for research.

‘And I got this while I was at it.’

Allfather had also given me a pill that would grant poison resistance.

With so much to do today, I made do with fasting pills for lunch. Once I’d eaten, I practiced my internal energy cultivation method as usual.

‘That’s odd. It feels faster than yesterday.’

Something was different about the mana circulating inside me. It was moving much faster, for lack of a better description. I was puzzled, but couldn’t find anything wrong with it. If anything, it felt so refreshing I wanted to keep going.

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

That was pure speculation. The fundamentals were what mattered anyway, so I didn’t concern myself with speed.

With cultivation finished, all that remained was to wait for Starlight Lady to put up her post.

‘I finally finished cleaning up, and one explosion means I have to do it all over again.’

First, I cleaned up the mess the exploding heart had made. Luckily, nothing seemed to have suffered major dam—

“No. Fuck, my charcoal!!!”

Only now did I realize all the charcoal I’d worked so hard to collect had been blown away. I could cry.

I managed to gather the scattered charcoal, but about a third was the best I could do. The urge to just buy some from the auction house came over me, but I barely resisted.

‘Right. I’ll be smoking meat soon anyway...’

Think positively. A negative mindset never helped. Still, I couldn’t help feeling bitter. With a rueful smile, I got the firewood ready. How much more work would it take to turn all this into charcoal? A sigh escaped me, but I accepted it and moved on.

‘Let’s use the remaining charcoal to wash the hide and clothes first.’

I planned to use the hide as a mat or blanket. Since this had been my first attempt at butchering, the quality wasn’t great. Besides, some parts had been cut by Heavenly Demon’s sword. Give this to All Hail the Sun in exchange for a new shield? I’d have to have no conscience.

‘I’ll need to cut the hide up a little. It’s too big.’

It would be awkward to wash and dry, so trimming it was a must.

Once I’d given the hide a rough cleaning, I briefly logged onto the forum to check whether Starlight Lady had posted.

‘There it is.’

It sat right at the top of the board. I clicked without hesitation.

How to Smoke Meat (Cold Smoking)

Starlight Lady

(Photo of a drawing showing a tripod being set up)

(Photo of a drawing showing a fire being lit beneath the tripod)

(Photo of a drawing showing meat being placed on the tripod)

Hello, Mr. Grylls!

As promised earlier, I’ll explain how to smoke meat—cold smoking, to be precise!

Smoking meat after drawing the moisture out with salt, as you’ve done, is called cold smoking.

Set up a tripod as shown above, light a fire beneath it, and hang up the meat. That’s it! Really easy, right?

You should cover the tripod with something like cloth to keep the smoke from escaping, though.

One other thing to watch out for: don’t dry the meat at too high a temperature. It only needs to feel warm.

Please leave a comment if this helped. I know I say this all the time, but thank you so much for saving my life.

└Wild Grylls: Thank you so much for explaining. Leaving an upvote before I go.

└Starlight Lady: Thank you, hehe. I’m glad it helped. I’ll make you more Elixir if I get the chance.

└Wild Grylls: Uh... do you need another mature mandrake?

└Starlight Lady: No. It’s for Roundfur, hehe.

└Wild Grylls: Oh, okay. I see.

It really was for Roundfur, right? I was a little taken aback, but didn’t dwell on it. First, I needed to build a smoker the way Starlight Lady had explained.

‘I’ll need some wood of the right size. If I can’t find any, I’ll make it myself.’

Felling trees wasn’t difficult anymore. A few swings of the axe and I was done.

I found some lengths of wood just right for the job and stood them up in a tripod. I lashed the apex tightly with rope to keep it from collapsing. I bought cloth to wrap around the outside from the auction house, too. I seemed to be spending a lot today. I’d originally planned to buy a blanket as well, but the hide would do instead.

‘Now I just hang the meat here, and I’m done.’

Finally, I tied the meat with rope and hung it in the center. Everything was ready.

But then I ran into an unexpected problem: quantity. There was so much tiger meat that I couldn’t help worrying.

‘I need to cook all of it to preserve it...’

That meant setting up more tripods.

‘Screw it. Let’s do it.’

What wouldn’t I do to make the meat last? I set up about five more tripods. Frankly, even that wasn’t enough. I stopped for one reason only: I’d run out of room.

CRACKLE! CRACKLE! POP!

I lit firewood beneath each tripod to produce smoke. Soon, curling tendrils rose to envelop the salted meat. Surprisingly little smoke escaped with the cloth wrapped around them. If I’d known that, I would have made these ages ago.

‘Well, at least I know now.’

I stared blankly at the meat as it gradually clothed itself in smoke.

What would have happened without the forum? Wouldn’t I have been long dead by now? Why had I not only been dropped into the Forest of Four Seasons, but given access to the forum as well? Questions with no easy answers tangled like threads. But I had no intention of unraveling them. More accurately, I had no energy to spare. Survival mattered most right now. Finding a way out of here came first.

‘I can’t get used to this.’

Don’t let familiarity make you lose sight of what’s precious. I repeated that to myself. Besides, hadn’t this latest incident taught me just how safe civilization was? I was only taking a brief rest. My determination to escape hadn’t faltered.

‘Get up. Get up and dig up a mandrake first.’

The dwarf would be sending a trade request soon. Even if I couldn’t give him a crab, shouldn’t I at least give him a mature mandrake? I’d only just traded with Allfather, so I had another twenty-four-hour wait ahead of me.

‘If nothing else, I wish they’d shorten the cooldown.’

The admin was stubborn and hard to persuade. And even if I tried a bribe, I doubted it would be accepted.

‘Isn’t there some way?’

Some way to shorten the trade cooldown, even a little.

* * *

BOOOOM!

A great explosion erupted with a blue flash. Its scale was neither particularly large nor small, but its power was terrifying. It wasn’t enough to obliterate the surroundings, but it was more than enough to wreck them.

“Cough! Cough! Ahem.”

Yet the mage who had taken the blast head-on was unharmed, apart from a little coughing. His snow-white beard had a little soot on it, but that hardly mattered.

He waved his hand to disperse the smoke, then forced his eyes open and looked ahead.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

At the epicenter of the explosion lay a heart far larger than a human head. It pulsed on, entirely unaffected by the blast. It looked almost defiant, as if to say that much was nowhere near enough.

BANG! BANG!

[“Master Kadir! Are you all right?”]

[“Are you hurt?! We heard something dangerous!”]

Several people pounded urgently on the door. A perfectly natural response to an unexpected explosion.

“I am fine. You may leave. I was merely conducting a new experiment.”

The mage casually dismissed the people worried about him. Concerned voices still sounded through the door, but his attention had already shifted elsewhere.

“My goodness...”

He gazed at the heart in wonder. It was still pounding, as if flaunting its continued vigor.

“What a magnificent heart!”

A thirst for knowledge shone in the mage’s eyes.