Chapter 5
Title: Announcement from the Elven Council of Elders, I Say...
El-hi ☆! I'm an elven elder, yeah.
First, I'm sorry for causing such a commotion.
I didn't know the reaction would be this hostile, yeah...
Still, saying, “Go die, you elven boomers!” was too harsh, yeah!
I'm sorry to the Head Mod, too.
Then!
ㄴ ?
ㄴ I'm confused.
ㄴ What's “Then!” supposed to mean?
ㄴ It seems like they meant “Then!”
ㄴ (An elf giving a thumbs-up sticker)
ㄴ Seriously, how are they any different from magical beasts?
ㄴ 1. I can't understand them
ㄴ 2. Just looking at them pisses me off
ㄴ 3. Almost every race is hostile toward them
Fortunately, the incident came to an end before a day had passed, with the Council of Elders raising the white flag.
The dwarves' help played a major role in resolving things so quickly.
Title: I Withdraw My Support for the Head Mod
From today onward, we are no longer merely supporters; the Head Mod and the dwarves are one.
Any attack on the Head Mod will be considered an attack on the dwarves.
ㄴ What can you even do, though?
ㄴ We'll give you dwarf-made weapons.
ㄴ Huh?
ㄴ We'll use dwarf-made weapons to smash your head.
ㄴ Huhhh;
“...That's reassuring.”
The gallery returned to normal, and desperate yet peaceful posts began appearing again.
I continued browsing the gallery without knowing how many days and nights had passed.
As a result, my points naturally piled up, and the mana dumplings multiplied as I bought and sold goods.
“Well, they'll be useful someday.”
The storage room was spacious, with plenty of room.
That was the beginning of the problem: I kept browsing the gallery while stacking mana dumplings in a corner of the storage room.
The mana dumplings were no longer confined to a corner; they eventually filled the storage room.
Patter.
“...Isn't this a little too much?”
The mana dumplings had filled half the storage room.
At this rate, I'll be crushed to death by mana dumplings instead of magical beasts.
“But I can't exactly throw them away.”
Mana dumplings were bona fide currency in this otherworld.
So I couldn't throw them away, and just as I was starting to get a headache over how to dispose of them—
Title: But What Do I Do with Mana Dumplings, Head Mod?
A title that caught my eye happened to appear.
ㄴ ☆Head Mod) What are mana dumplings?
ㄴ OP) ?? Mana dumplings.
ㄴ ☆Head Mod) I can't get rid of them either, and I have nowhere to sell them; I'm hiding in some ruins.
“I suppose that person doesn't have any brilliant solution, either.”
They had probably just asked out of genuine curiosity.
After all, I had been steadily collecting mana dumplings every time I sold something.
Then an answer came back that I couldn't ignore.
ㄴ OP) Then eat them.
ㄴ ☆Head Mod) You can eat them?
ㄴ OP) Then why aren't you eating them?
ㄴ ☆Head Mod) ?
ㄴ OP) ??
I could tell from the conversation that something was wrong.
I used the search function, expanding the search to include both titles and content, and searched for mana dumplings.
Posts found for mana dumplings [54]
“What? There aren't many.”
Most of them were just clickbait or shitposts titled How to Get Mana Dumplings Easily.
So I tweaked the keyword a little.
Eating mana dumplings.
Posts found for eating mana dumplings [999+]
-What do mana dumplings even taste like?
-I get a subtle blueberry flavor when I eat mana dumplings.
-Mana-dumpling noobs, come on in
As expected, you have to trim everything down first.
*
Title: Mana Dumplings Taste Like Blueberries
I was so hungry this time that I just tried eating one raw.
But it was surprisingly delicious, so I was shocked.
Some people say they have no flavor, while others say they taste like vinegar, but they're better than expected, aren't they?
ㄴ The taste probably varies by region.
ㄴ It also depends on the magical beast's rank, yeah.
ㄴ That's why a high-level adventurer went on a gourmet tour of mana dumplings before the Great War, remember?
ㄴ OP) Wow, seriously?
Title: Ah!!! Fuck!!!
Why do the mana dumplings in my neighborhood taste like nothing but shit!!!
ㄴ Shit-flavored curry, curry-flavored shit
ㄴ Two flavors at once in a single region ㄷㄷ
ㄴ So jealous!
ㄴ ☆Head Mod) If they taste that bad, why do you eat them?
ㄴ OP) ??
ㄴ OP) You have to eat them to increase your mana and get closer to awakening, right?
ㄴ Sometimes it's purely because they're hungry, but usually it's for enlightenment.
ㄴ ☆Head Mod) Wow! Then is it like leveling up? Like eating experience points and getting stronger?
ㄴ What is this guy even on about...
ㄴ OP) Here they go again. Go eat your meal.
“Ah, so there is no leveling up?”
There were settings like mana, but when I asked about levels, I suddenly became the weird one.
Even so, the fact that I had gained important information from the conversation was significant.
I picked up one of the mana dumplings that had been piling up in the corner and stared at it.
“So I can eat this?”
It looked like a lump of modeling clay.
I knew the moment I saw it: the mana dumplings from my region were screwed.
It looked clammy and damp, terribly unappetizing.
Besides, I didn't even know what kind of effect it would have.
The gallery user had called it enlightenment, but that was incredibly vague. It might not do anything at all.
Even so, I closed my eyes and put the dumpling in my mouth, then chewed.
Squish.
“Wow, this texture is insane.”
The texture was deeply unpleasant.
It was close to garbage—no, it had the texture of a banana peel left sitting around.
Besides, why did it taste like mint chocolate?
“Still, it is filling...”
Could it be that the worse something tasted, the more nutritious it was?
At least I wasn't hungry anymore.
But I never wanted to eat one again.
[Mana dumpling absorbed.]
[The status window has been unlocked through enlightenment.]
[Level increased! 1→2]
“Huh?”
However, the words that followed jolted me wide awake.
Level up? Hadn't they clearly said there was no such thing?
But it was different.
As the Head Mod, I possessed an ability called leveling up.
And when I raised my level, a new ability I'd never seen before appeared.
[Head Mod]
Level 2
-Point acquisition rate: Level 2
“Point acquisition rate: Level 2?”
I entered the gallery as if hypnotized.
The Otherworld Destruction Gallery had countless gore pics and tactical nukes uploaded every day, so this was perfect timing.
Title: Is a Gallery User's Face This Good?
(A close-up image of a freshly hunted goblin's face)
Just woke up and took this selfie, yeah.
Do you guys think I'm too handsome?
Even if I look like this, I hope you won't be too jealous.
ㄴ Aaaagh!
ㄴ Are you seriously trying to go one-on-one?
ㄴ Disgusting human bastards! I'll curse you!!
“I just happen to have some good material here.”
A close-up goblin pic? That was nothing to someone who had weathered all kinds of tactical nukes.
I immediately clicked the ban icon displayed beside the author.
[Suspended 99 days]
[Reason for suspension: Too handsome]
[60 points awarded to the Head Mod for helping restore order to the gallery.]
“Wow!”
There were plenty of criteria for managing the gallery: banning users, mediating or inciting fights, getting posts featured, and so on.
Among them, banning tactical-nuke users paid particularly well. The reward had really doubled from 30 points to 60!
“This is worth a whopping 60 cans of tuna, lol.”
Eating a single mana dumpling had doubled my point acquisition rate.
I had been struggling for points after releasing a huge amount of goods to help the dwarves, so this worked out perfectly.
“With this, I might be able to buy it!”
It was the item I had been watching steadily for the past few days.
It was a top-of-the-line bed listed under the Shop/Furniture category for the incredible price of 10,000 points.
A bed could be considered essential equipment for browsing the gallery.
The longer I slept on the hard storage-room floor, the more I yearned for a bed.
Besides, the gallery was in the middle of a money-printing event, with more gore pics than ever being uploaded.
-I drew a Zero Two goblin pic
-Is the Head Mod asleep? Tactical nuke incoming
-If the girl in this pic is pretty, I'm going to bed
ㄴ It's a dwarf, you fuck
ㄴ Satisfying.
ㄴ ?
“Brace yourself.”
With a mana dumpling in one hand and the gallery in the other,
I began browsing the gallery like a madman.
*
-This post has been deleted
-This post has been deleted
-What the hell is happening in the gallery right now?
-Today's collection of elf pics.jpg
-What is this, a bug?
-This post has been deleted
The Otherworld Destruction Gallery had been practically lawless until now.
Without a deputy mod or Head Mod, the gallery had been nothing short of Purge Day every single day.
But even that gallery couldn't withstand my gallery-browsing operation running twenty-four hours a day.
-It says this post was deleted, but am I the only one seeing it like this?
At first, most people reacted with confusion.
They seemed unaware of what was happening, wondering if the gallery had developed a bug, but after an hour, everyone began to realize what was going on.
-Was this all the Head Mod? lol
-Did we elect a permanent deputy mod or something? The speed at which posts are being deleted is insane.
-I kept wondering why the gore pics I uploaded were disappearing. So you were moderating the gallery, huh? lol
ㄴ You bastard, it was you?
I kept deleting posts without pause.
[Points Held: 5,000]
I had reached a number of points I had never seen before.
That was enough to buy no fewer than five thousand cans of tuna.
If calculated in bottled water, I could buy enough liters to flood the storage room.
“I built this up in just a few hours?”
If I did this just one more time, I'd be able to put the bed of my dreams in the storage room.
Although it was a little painful to spend 10,000 points on a single bed, it wasn't an outright loss.
“Good sleep means more gallery browsing.”
I even started thinking that someday I should recruit an unpaid slave deputy mod to help me.
That was when I was about to start browsing the gallery again.
[Level up! 2→3]
[A new gallery function has been unlocked!]
[Buying. Selling.]
[You can conduct barters.]
Warning!
1. The purchase price does not necessarily have to be mana dumplings.
2. Either the seller or the buyer must be the Head Mod.
3. More detailed functions can be unlocked as your level increases.
“Ooh?”
I suddenly stopped just as I was about to browse the gallery.
Maybe I wouldn't have to spend those precious points to buy a bed from the shop after all.