Chapter 116

Mining (3)

What was life?

It was a remarkably profound question.

A being promised death at the very moment it was granted life.

A being that raced toward death and therefore struggled to leave behind biological or spiritual descendants of its own.

A subject worthy of deep philosophical and scientific study, as well as a creation of God.

Life itself was the very embodiment of mystery.

That raised another question: What standards distinguished living things from nonliving things?

Scholars had established various criteria for defining life, but those criteria were ultimately subjective.

Distinguishing life in a completely objective sense was practically impossible.

The Gallery system was probably no different. Its creator’s subjective views must have been reflected in it.

The problem was that I had been able to trade other objects without difficulty until now.

Before my eyes lay mithril, displaying its brilliant splendor.

For some unknown reason, the Gallery had classified this mithril as a living creature.

I stared at the mithril and sank into thought.

A single question filled my mind.

’Why?’

Minerals detached from the vein could be traded.

However, the entire vein couldn’t be traded because it had been classified as a living creature.

’Does it have a core inside it like the guardian?’

If so, this was dangerous.

It meant the mithril vein might become active like the guardian.

I couldn’t be certain because it was buried underground, but I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

The Gallery had classified it as a living creature, so I needed to exercise caution.

’Considering it stayed still even after I hit it so many times...’

The guardian had reacted the moment I used mana.

This thing, however, hadn’t responded even when I struck it with mana-infused attacks.

What kind of ecology did this vein possess?

It was difficult to understand.

In the end, all I knew was that the vein was alive.

What if it didn’t assume a definite form like the guardian and instead remained amorphous like a slime from some game?

What if one day, while I was sleeping, it suddenly sprouted upward in the shape of spikes?

What would happen then?

I would suffer a critical injury at the very least.

The human body was fragile.

The moment one of those spikes pierced my head, I would bid farewell to this world.

As long as such a danger existed, I couldn’t ignore a living mineral vein beneath my home.

’Should I ask the dwarf first?’

A living mineral vein.

The dwarf was the only person I could ask about something like this.

If even he didn’t know, I planned to post a question in the Gallery.

[Wild Grylls: Hey. Emergency. Emergency. Let me ask you something.]

[Passing Dwarf: What is it?]

[Wild Grylls: Are there such things as living... mineral veins?]

[Passing Dwarf: What kind of nonsense is that? What score did you get in language class at school?]

[Wild Grylls: My parents died, so I focused more on working than school. I barely met the attendance requirements.]

[Passing Dwarf: Ah, fuck. If you say it like that, you make me sound like an asshole;;]

[Wild Grylls: Then be serious and answer me.]

[Passing Dwarf: What do you mean, a mineral is alive? Are you talking about the mithril?]

[Wild Grylls: Yeah. After hearing what you said, I observed it for a while. The fragments lying nearby wriggled around before reattaching themselves to the vein. I tried trading the vein just in case, but all I got was a notification saying living creatures couldn’t be traded.]

[Passing Dwarf: I don’t know. Just ask the Gallery. I can tell you aren’t talking nonsense, but I honestly have no idea, lol.]

Even the dwarf, an expert, gave up trying to understand it.

In the end, I decided to ask the Gallery.

Surely someone would know.

Just in case, I recorded the entire process. I also broke off a few fragments.

This was possible because I could take photographs and videos of the Gallery window itself.

Title: Can Minerals Be Alive?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the mithril vein)

(Video showing the notification that appeared when I tried trading the mithril)

(Video of the fragments wriggling toward the vein and reattaching themselves)

It’s exactly as shown in the videos. Passing Dwarf identified it as mithril.

But he said mithril isn’t supposed to be alive.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

What the hell is it, and why is this happening?

└ Heavenly Demon: It crawls like an earthworm. It appears to be struggling to survive.

└ SwordMaster: Doesn’t it look like it’s trying to increase the size of its body?

└ What the fuck am I looking at?

└ I never thought I’d live to see mithril fragments crawling like earthworms;;

└ Even for the Forest of Four Seasons, does this make any sense?

└ Could there be some kind of core embedded inside it?

└ Forget that. Grylls, give me some mithril. I’ll put it to good use.

└ Come to think of it, that really was mithril, lol.

└ Everyone was so shocked that they focused on the video instead of the mithril, lol.

└ This bastard assessed the situation quickly, lol.

└ Allfather: The Gallery classified it as a living creature... That is effectively the same as saying the mineral possesses an ego.

└ Wild Grylls: An ego?

└ Allfather: Yes. The Gallery appears to prohibit the trading of anything it determines possesses an ego. That is the conclusion I reached through many years of research.

└ Then are you saying plants don’t have egos? Medicinal herbs and trees can be traded just fine.

└ Allfather: Possessing an ego means being capable of thought. It means learning through thought and developing even further.

└ You sound like one of those people who claims cancer is alive. Why doesn’t cancer count?

└ Allfather: Who told you that?

└ I read it in an old book.

└ Allfather: It seems you’re the one without an ego. Judging by how you refuse to think for yourself and entrust your sense of self to others, that is. Would you care to entrust that head of yours to me through a trade? As it happens, I have a friend for it.

└ Allfather: In any case, it isn’t completely unheard of for an inanimate object to develop an ego. Have you ever heard of an ego weapon? It is a weapon that possesses a consciousness of its own.

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero: Ah! I know about those too! The Hero’s Holy Sword is also a weapon with an ego!

└ Allfather: An excellent example. However, even I have never seen an unprocessed mineral possess an ego... You should exercise caution. It may give birth to a guardian.

└ A mithril guardian? That’s fucking insane, lol.

└ Would he even be able to defeat it?

└ Mithril alone is already difficult enough. If a guardian emerges, Grylls will probably just die.

└ That’s genuinely horrifying;;

└ Wild Grylls: Then there must be a specific part responsible for the mithril’s ego, right?

└ Allfather: That is most likely the case.

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero: In the Holy Sword’s case, it’s the jewel embedded in the center of its hilt!

└ Wild Grylls: I didn’t ask you.

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero: Okay...!

└ Wild Grylls: I’m sorry. I’m anxious, so I spoke too harshly.

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero: It’s all right! I’ve been called much worse! Someone even called me a fucking bitch before!

└ Wild Grylls: ;;

└ Wild Grylls: Anyway, you’re saying this mineral vein possesses an ego, correct? An ego capable of thinking and making decisions for itself.

I suddenly felt sorry for the head moderator, but I decided to move on.

Such were the hardships of being a moderator.

I stared at the mithril vein, which was presumed to possess an ego.

How was I supposed to make this thing move?

I was afraid that an accident might occur if I continued mining.

"Ahem. Hello, my friend?"

"...?"

"If you can hear me, could you move your body out of the way?"

So I made the suggestion as politely as possible.

It might have made me look like an idiot, but I was completely serious.

Of course, the mineral vein didn’t move.

It didn’t have ears, after all. Not every living creature had them.

Would a jellyfish listen if you spoke to it in a human language?

Absolutely not.

"Haa... This won’t do."

I couldn’t leave it like this.

I made a decision for the greater good.

Even if I had to tear apart the entire rear section of the cave, I would mine out all the mithril.

I would rather defuse the bomb myself than sleep with it beneath me.

’If neither of us had ever become aware of the other, it probably would’ve remained still.’

Ignorance was bliss.

It felt as though I had unnecessarily awakened something that had been sleeping.

Still, what else could I do?

It had already happened.

As a precaution, I placed Namu-Ppareumbo on my back and began mining.

Crack! Thud!

Instead of mining the mithril directly, I carefully chipped away at the rock surrounding it.

I needed to see just how large this mithril deposit was.

Fortunately, it seemed to exist only inside the cave.

’Games really are completely different from reality.’

In a certain blocky world, you could dig all the way down to lava with nothing more than an iron pickaxe.

It seemed only superhumans could become protagonists.

I was merely an ordinary human dropped into the Forest of Four Seasons by some god’s prank.

I felt like sighing, but mining took priority.

Crack! Thud!

How much time had passed?

Once I had dug down to a depth roughly equal to my height, the vein’s overall shape gradually began to emerge.

"Oh, for fuck’s sake. Seriously?"

I took it back.

What I had seen was merely the tip of the iceberg.

No matter how much I dug, I couldn’t find the end.

Just how far did this vein extend?

It was impossible to estimate.

’This is driving me insane.’

At this rate, I would have to tear apart not only the rear section but the entire cave.

Still, I needed to sleep inside the cave.

More than anything, I wanted to rest.

With a troubled heart, I stared at the glittering mithril vein.

’Was it Gyeongju? I heard people find artifacts just by digging in their yards there.’

Meanwhile, finding mithril had given me nothing but a headache.

Worse still, this was a mineral that might eventually produce a guardian.

An orichalcum guardian was horrifying enough, but a mithril guardian?

’I don’t have a choice. I’ll have to mine all of it.’

I changed my plan.

I would mine the mithril and locate the source of its life.

I didn’t know whether it would truly become a guardian, but I couldn’t ignore the worst-case scenario.

Clang! Clank! Clank!

And so I continued mining diligently.

My hands gradually began to go numb, but I endured it.

If I failed to eliminate this thing, my life might be in danger.

It was mining with my life on the line.

Fortunately, I had the pickaxe the dwarf had given me.

I stored the detached mithril fragments and chunks inside my spatial bag.

"Huff... Haa..."

After swinging the pickaxe for an hour, I was the first to give out.

Meanwhile, the mithril vein continued displaying its unyielding form.

Strangely, it seemed to grow harder the more I struck it.

More precisely, it became tougher the deeper I dug.

’I’ll have to make sure the dwarf crafts that mithril pickaxe for me.’

Either that, or I needed to complete my Aura Blade.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t making any progress with it.

Still, I had to do as much as I possibly could.

Didn’t they say that small gains eventually accumulated into a mountain?

[Wild Grylls: Heavenly Demon, I’ll give you a lump of mithril, so please have a weapon made from it. Consider it repayment for the sword you gave me.]

[Heavenly Demon: There is no need for this. Your kindness may well be your greatest weakness.]

[Wild Grylls: The sword you gave me has saved my life several times. Without it, I would’ve died long ago. So please accept this.]

[Heavenly Demon: Refusing would also be discourteous. I shall accept it with gratitude.]

I used my break to give the Heavenly Demon a lump of mithril.

[Wild Grylls: Mithril isn’t some trivial trinket, so you’ll accept it, right?]

[PraiseTheSun: Not even the king of a nation could call mithril a trivial trinket;;]

[Wild Grylls: Then please accept it. It’s repayment for all the shields you’ve given me.]

[PraiseTheSun: You already gave me a fully mature Mandrake. I thought that was more than enough.]

[Wild Grylls: So you don’t want it?]

[PraiseTheSun: No one dislikes free gifts. Thanks. I’ll use it to make an accessory.]

[Wild Grylls: Thank you.]

I also gave a lump of mithril to PraiseTheSun, who had gifted me the shields.

Afterward, I resumed mining.

It was an endless battle.

However, even by evening, I had failed to extract all of it.

’I’ll have no choice but to sleep as far away from it as possible.’

My hands were numb after swinging a pickaxe all day.

I massaged my tingling palms and accessed the Gallery.

There were approximately thirty minutes left until dinner, so I planned to browse the Gallery until then.

’The dwarf sent me a message.’

I had given the dwarf more mithril whenever I extracted some.

I had also repeatedly insisted that he make me a pure-mithril pickaxe.

Since he had messaged me, I assumed he had either completed it or was currently crafting it.

[Passing Dwarf: Hey. We’re fucked.]

However, the message I received was nothing like what I had expected.

It was short and concise, yet perfectly summarized the situation he was facing.

Instead of feeling anxious, I was confused and immediately replied.

[Wild Grylls: What happened?]

[Passing Dwarf: The mithril won’t melt.]

[Wild Grylls: ? What are you talking about?]

[Passing Dwarf: No matter what I do, it won’t melt, so I can’t pour it into a mold. I can’t even break it.]

The dwarf then continued.

[Passing Dwarf: I examined it and found that it contains an excessive amount of mana. I’d need a specially constructed furnace to melt it. So I think I’ll have to send it back.]

[Wild Grylls: You aren’t saying I’ll have to melt it and make the equipment myself, are you?]

[Passing Dwarf: Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m saying.]

[Wild Grylls: F—]

[Passing Dwarf: Still, anything made from it will be insanely powerful, lol.]

In other words, my workload had increased yet again.