I barely managed to hold my dangling arm in place as I returned to the cave. Inside, Roundfur was pacing around. Apparently, the little guy had been fretting over me for a while.

"Kyuu! Kyu!"

Roundfur gave me an enthusiastic welcome despite my injury. I would have loved to scoop the cub up in both arms, but that was difficult with one arm in this state.

"Wait a second, Roundfur. Let me get my arm back together first."

"Kyuu!"

Roundfur answered spiritedly and backed off a little. Such a good, obedient little cub.

I chuckled and carefully lowered my arm. Getting the shield off was the first hurdle. I'd been injured plenty of times, but this was my first broken arm, so I was at a loss about what to do.

'What if I pour Elixir on it without knowing what I'm doing and it heals crooked?'

That was my biggest concern. My ribs hadn't been smashed to pieces like my arm.

It seemed best to immobilize it with a splint first. Working one-handed, I looked for a suitable piece of wood. All I had to do was cut one of the logs I'd split for the campfire down to size.

'Buy some cloth from the forum...'

Then I just had to put the splint in place and tie it on. Easier said than done with one arm.

"Excuse me, Mr. Speedy."

"..."

"Mind holding this for me? My arm's a bit out of commission."

So I asked Speedy for help. Even if it couldn't tie knots, it could at least hold the cloth. It stared at me, then held it as requested. With its help, I managed to splint my arm using the wood and cloth. That was only a stopgap, though. I needed to apply Elixir to actually heal it.

Arm's Wrecked

Wild Grylls

(Photo of a splinted arm)

Fought the gorilla chief and got my arm wrecked. Good thing it spared me, or I'd be dead lol.

Do I just pour Elixir on my arm now? I was worried about the bones healing crooked, so I've only splinted it for now.

└Heavenly Demon Was the monkey strong?

└Wild Grylls Ridiculously strong. My arm broke even though I blocked with my shield. It didn't even punch it, either. It just rested its fist against it.

└Heavenly Demon Your arm broke from mere contact?

└Wild Grylls Yes. Literally just a light tap.

└Heavenly Demon To think it can even use penetrating force. Its attainment is quite high. I did not foresee this.

└Wild Grylls And when I slashed it with my sword, it vanished like a mirage and appeared right behind me.

└Heavenly Demon Even Phantom Displacement? Astonishing. It showed you mercy.

└Sword Masta You're truly lucky to be alive. If that gorilla had gone all out, you wouldn't have lasted a second.

└Wild Grylls I even attacked by surprise, and it still stopped my sword with just its fingers. That's when I knew I was fucked.

└Sword Masta How many fingers did it use?

└Wild Grylls Three.

└Sword Masta It seems it only used three because it was you, Grylls. One would usually suffice.

└Wild Grylls The sword Heavenly Demon gave me probably helped too.

└What kind of gorilla uses penetrating force and Phantom Displacement? Not buying it until I see it myself...

└It can speak human language. Couldn't it be possible?

└Honestly, this sounds like bullshit. Why not say it fires palm blasts while you're at it?

└Wild Grylls Dunno about palm blasts, but there's a whole wrecked stretch of forest. I'll show you later.

└What? It actually fired a palm blast? lmao

└Even that monkey from mythology wouldn't go that far lol.

└There's a monkey in mythology?

└A Central Plains myth. It's about a monkey that became a spiritual creature by imitating human behavior.

└Oh. Sounds fun.

└Starlight Lady Is your arm broken all the way through?

└Wild Grylls Yes. It's dangling loose. I can pour Elixir on it like this, right? I splinted it first because I was worried about the bones healing crooked.

└Starlight Lady You made the right choice. Bones do end up misaligned fairly often. Drinking Elixir has a strong effect on areas like the torso, but not on the limbs.

└Wild Grylls Would it heal quickly if I cut it open and poured Elixir inside?

└Starlight Lady I'll just give you a syringe. I used them often when I was ill.

└Wild Grylls Thank you. Is there anything you'd like? I don't think I can go out today, but I should be able to get you something tomorrow.

└Starlight Lady Just stay alive and well, please. You're making it seem like your life really could be snuffed out at any moment.

└Wild Grylls Will do.

└But it could be snuffed out at any moment, couldn't it?

└Yeah, honestly doubt he'll last a month.

└Isn't it exactly two weeks now?

└Wonder what comes after gorillas lol.

└Good thing the gorilla showed mercy. Today could've been the end lmao.

└All Hail the Sun Should I try raising a gorilla too? I wonder if teaching it martial arts would work.

└Wild Grylls Try teaching it to talk before martial arts. I'd like to know if that's possible too.

└All Hail the Sun They can manage simple sign language, can't they? The chimpanzee I used to raise could.

└Wild Grylls You raised a chimpanzee...?

└All Hail the Sunn Yeah, but it died of old age. I really doted on that one.

└Upvote if you think that chimp lived better than you lmao.

└For real lol. They say if you have to be a slave, be a noble's slave~

└I'd rather be a chimp lol.

└I'm less intelligent than a chimp. Can you raise me?

└Then share some of that intelligence with me. Chimps and monkeys are all the same, right?

└Forget being a pet. Just be my slave. I'll raise you well.

└LMAOOOO

└You evil bastards lmao.

While everyone chattered away on the forum, I received a syringe from Starlight Lady.

Starlight Lady

I gave you a new one just to be safe, so you can use it without worrying.

Thank you.

I just fill this with Elixir and inject it into my arm, right?

Starlight Lady

Yes. Please be careful using it.

The syringe was both similar to and different from the ones I knew. The shape itself was identical, but the material and size were completely different. It was particularly large, though the needle was small compared with the thick barrel.

'If the needle had been huge too... Ugh.'

I filled the syringe with Elixir and checked that it flowed properly. Golden liquid spurted from the tip. That would do. Then I stuck the needle into the site of the break and steadily injected it.

'I look like an addict shooting up.'

The Elixir's distinctive cool sensation and the pain gradually faded. I could even feel the bones knitting together, so it seemed to have more or less healed.

Still, I intended to keep the splint on for a day if possible. I'd heard broken bones could have some pretty serious lasting effects.

'At least I survived.'

I took a sip of Elixir and looked up at the ceiling. I'd thought the Forest of Four Seasons was easy despite its reputation, but I'd been mistaken. I simply hadn't encountered an outlier like the gorilla chief yet. Even the saber-toothed tiger would be nothing more than a house cat in front of it.

'So there are others as strong as that gorilla?'

Just how strong were they? I was a little scared. I didn't have to look far: there were already that crab and crayfish acting out a monster movie. But their habitat was different, and their sheer size made them easy to avoid. The problem was smaller creatures living nearby, like the gorilla chief.

"..."

As I brooded, the speed-sloth caught my eye. It had simply watched without intervening, even when I'd nearly died. Had it considered that the personal guard would join the fight the instant it stepped in? Or had it known the gorilla chief would show mercy? I couldn't say, but clearly it had some history with the chief.

"Speedy."

"..."

"Can you use that Phantom Displacement thing too? Disappearing and reappearing like that?"

It nodded, answering my question with a dip of its head. I nodded back. Offering tribute to this little guy really had been the right choice.

'Come to think of it...'

The next thing to catch my eye after the speed-sloth was the bananas. The bundle the gorilla chief had tossed me as an apology. To be precise, it was three bunches tied together, practically a whole set. There were enough that I wouldn't have to worry about food for a while. Or I could eat them as snacks.

'Let's try one.'

I was feeling down, so something sweet would help. I plucked off a banana, then a couple more for the speed-sloth and Roundfur.

"Here. Eat up."

"Kyu!"

"..."

My animal friends each approached their bananas in their own way. Roundfur, who couldn't resist sweets, buried that little nose in the fruit, while the speed-sloth stared at its banana. Apparently, it felt uneasy about eating something its enemy had given us. Still, it started peeling it, so it didn't seem entirely opposed.

'It's been a while since I had a banana.'

I struggled to peel mine one-handed. I wanted to use my left hand, but I intended to spare it just in case. I chewed a mouthful.

"... Oh?"

The first bite filled my mouth with honeyed sweetness. It had that distinctive banana aroma too, making it quite literally a banana as sweet as honey. No wonder Roundfur had buried its face in it. The taste made me happy.

'How can it have this much sugar?'

A banana raised on plentiful mana. Even Southeast Asian bananas couldn't be this sweet. It was enormous, too. A single one was as big as my forearm. I wolfed it down, soothing my troubled mind.

'It did give us something good.'

Of course, it fell far short of the fasting pills. At first, I'd assumed the message was, "Take this and shut up." Still, judging by how delicious it was, the chief had done its best in its own way. Where would it find something as nutritious as fasting pills here? Simple medicinal herbs were one thing, but fasting pills were human food made from a blend of all sorts of herbs.

"Om nom nom."

Roundfur ate all the banana peels. Their astringency aside, I was worried they might give the cub diarrhea.

I leaned against the cave wall and glanced at my broken arm. No matter how often I thought about it, it was baffling. The chief had merely rested its fist against my shield, yet my arm had broken. Would I ever be capable of a trick like that? Learning it solely through forum posts seemed unlikely.

'Wait. Now that I think about it...'

It had happened just before the gorilla chief's final strike. When my survival instinct had pushed my concentration to its limit, the aura billowing like flames had begun to compress and take shape. I remembered it now.

'I'd better practice before I forget that feeling.'

The sensation still lingered. Its impact had been that strong. I immediately fetched Heavenly Demon's sword and manifested my aura. With a little mana, it rose like a heat haze. Feeding in just a bit more made it surge like flames.

'Let's recall how it felt, bit by bit.'

That sensation of formless energy crushing my body. How I'd even bitten my tongue to escape the pressure. I hadn't completed it, but simply finding a lead was enough.

HUMMM... HUM... HUMMM...

It was still difficult, though. The aura stubbornly refused to coalesce. Even so, I could see the flame-like aura shrinking intermittently. It wasn't because I'd stopped supplying mana. On the contrary, it shrank despite my forcing more and more into it. It hadn't taken a complete form, but this alone was a huge improvement.

'The problem is there's so much aura that it's hard to control.'

I'd get somewhere with it if I kept practicing little by little. I put down the sword and opened the forum.

Everyone there was talking about me. The talking gorilla had to be made up, I was lying, and so on.

'I knew you'd do this, so I recorded it, you little shits.'

So I uploaded the footage of everything the gorilla had said so far. Heavenly Demon had already translated it all, but there were far too many people who refused to believe it.

'It's not like they have video editing or AI here.'

If they did, that would be fascinating in its own right. I took a quick look at the comments.

└Now you're faking translations too?

└F

└Xcking

└Bitch

"..."

Or maybe not. Were people just the same everywhere?