Got a Gallery in the Wild

What is life?

It is a deeply philosophical question.

An existence that, at the same moment it receives life, also receives the promise of death.

An existence that runs toward death and therefore strives to leave behind descendants, whether biological or spiritual.

A subject worthy of deep study from both philosophy and science, a creation of the gods.

Life is, in itself, the embodiment of the strange.

Then a question arises.

What is the criterion for distinguishing what is alive?

Scholars have proposed numerous criteria to define life, but all of them are, in the end, subjective.

From a completely objective perspective, distinguishing what is life and what is not is practically impossible.

And that is probably no different for the gallery’s system.

It undoubtedly reflects the subjective opinion of whoever created it.

The problem was that until now I had traded all kinds of objects without issue.

And yet the mithril vein shining majestically before my eyes…

For some reason, the gallery had classified it as a lifeform.

“……”

I looked at the mithril vein and sank into thought.

The question “why?” occupied my entire mind.

The fragments broken off from that vein could be traded.

But the complete vein could not.

It had been classified as a lifeform.

‘Could it have a core inside, like the Guardian?’

If so, it was dangerous.

Because it would mean that the mithril vein might act like the Guardian.

Even though it was buried underground and I couldn’t be certain, the unease remained.

The gallery had identified it as a living being.

I had to proceed carefully.

‘After all the hits I gave it, it still hasn’t reacted…’

The Guardian reacted the moment I used mana.

In contrast, this thing showed no reaction even though I struck it using mana.

What kind of ecosystem did that vein have?

It was difficult to understand.

In the end, the only thing I knew was that the vein was alive.

Nothing more.

What if it didn’t take on a physical form like the Guardian?

What if it maintained an amorphous form, like the slimes in some games?

What if one day, while I was sleeping, a spike suddenly emerged and pierced my body?

Then what?

At the very least, a fatal wound.

The human body is fragile.

If it pierced my head, it would be over.

As long as that risk existed, I couldn’t ignore a living vein.

‘Should I ask the dwarf first?’

A living vein.

There was only one person I could ask about something like that.

The dwarf.

And if even he didn’t know the answer, then I would post the question in the gallery.

[WildGrills: Hey. Emergency. Emergency. Let me ask you something.]

[DwarfPassingBy: What is it?]

[WildGrills: Do… living mineral veins exist?]

[DwarfPassingBy: What kind of nonsense are you talking about?]

[DwarfPassingBy: What grade did you get in language class when you were in school?]

[WildGrills: My parents died, so I focused more on working than studying.]

[WildGrills: I barely met the attendance requirements.]

[DwarfPassingBy: Ah, damn it. When you put it like that, I sound like an asshole. ;;]

[WildGrills: Then stop joking around and answer seriously.]

[DwarfPassingBy: What do you mean by a mineral being alive?]

[DwarfPassingBy: Are you talking about the mithril?]

[WildGrills: Yeah.]

[WildGrills: After hearing what you said, I started observing it.]

[WildGrills: The fragments around it started wriggling and then reattached themselves to the vein.]

[WildGrills: Just in case, I tried trading it, but a window appeared saying that living beings cannot be traded.]

[DwarfPassingBy: No idea.]

[DwarfPassingBy: Ask in the gallery.]

[DwarfPassingBy: I know you’re not talking nonsense, but I simply have no clue. Haha.]

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

In the end, I decided to ask in the gallery.

Surely someone would know something.

Just in case, I recorded the entire process on video.

Including how I broke off some fragments.

Since I could also record the gallery window, there was no problem.

Title) Can minerals have life too?

WildGrills

(Photo of the mithril vein)

(Video showing the message that it cannot be traded)

(Video of the fragments slowly crawling back and reattaching themselves to the vein)

Just as you can see in the videos.

DwarfPassingBy told me this is mithril.

But he also said mithril isn’t alive.

Has anyone ever seen something like this?

What the hell is this thing for something like this to happen?

└HeavenlyDemon: They crawl like worms. It seems they’re desperately struggling to survive.

└Swordmaster: It looks like they’re trying to increase their size.

└What the hell am I looking at?

└In my entire life, I never thought I’d see mithril fragments crawling around like worms. ;;

└Even if we’re talking about the Forest of Four Seasons, does this make any sense?

└What if it has something like a core inside it?

└Putting that aside, Grills. Give me some mithril. I’ll put it to good use.

└Now that I think about it, it really was mithril. Hahaha.

└Everyone’s so shocked by the video that they forgot about the mithril. Hahaha.

└And yet someone still managed to identify what was important immediately. Hahaha.

└AllFather: The gallery classified it as a lifeform…

└AllFather: That is equivalent to saying that mineral possesses an “ego.”

└WildGrills: An ego?

└AllFather: Yes.

└AllFather: Based on my years of research, it seems the gallery blocks trade whenever it determines that something possesses its own ego.

└Then plants don’t have egos? Medicinal herbs and trees can be traded without any problem.

└AllFather: Having an ego means thinking.

└AllFather: Thinking, learning through that thought, and eventually evolving.

└Then you’re also saying cancer is alive. Why doesn’t cancer count?

└AllFather: And who said it doesn’t?

└I read it in an old book.

└AllFather: It seems you don’t have an ego. Judging by how you don’t think for yourself and instead delegate your judgment to others. If you’d like, I can trade for you. I happen to have a friend who needs a head.

└Sorry. ;;

└WildGrills: In any case, are you saying this vein has an ego? An ego capable of thinking and making decisions on its own?

└AllFather: Yes. Besides, it’s not impossible for an inanimate object to develop an ego. Have you heard of Ego Weapons? They are weapons that possess their own consciousness.

└HeroDontThrowAway: Ah! I know about those too! The Hero’s Holy Sword is also a weapon with its own ego!

└AllFather: An excellent example. However, this is the first time I’ve seen a mineral that possesses an ego without first being turned into a weapon. I recommend being cautious. It could eventually become a Guardian.

└A mithril Guardian? Hahaha.

└Could something like that even be defeated?

└Mithril is already hard enough to deal with. If a Guardian appears, Grills is dead.

└That’s terrifying. ;;

└WildGrills: Then there must be some part that is responsible for that ego, right?

└AllFather: Most likely.

└HeroDontThrowAway: In the Holy Sword’s case, it’s the gemstone embedded in the center of the hilt!

└WildGrills: I wasn’t asking you.

└HeroDontThrowAway: Yesss……!

└WildGrills: Sorry. I’m a little worked up and spoke too harshly.

└HeroDontThrowAway: It’s okay! I’ve been told much worse things! One time someone even called me a son of a b***h!

└WildGrills: …

For a moment, I felt sorry for the head moderator, but I decided to let it go.

Those were the hardships that came with wearing the moderator’s armband.

I looked at the mithril vein that supposedly possessed an ego.

How the hell was I supposed to get rid of it?

The thought of some kind of accident happening while I was mining it terrified me.

“Ahem. Friend?”

“……”

“If you can hear me, would you mind moving somewhere else?”

So I made the request in the most polite way possible. It sounded stupid, but I was completely serious.

Of course, the vein didn’t move.

It had no ears.

And just because something is alive doesn’t mean it has ears.

Does a jellyfish respond when you talk to it?

Of course not.

“Hmm. This won’t work.”

I couldn’t leave it like this.

I made a drastic decision.

Even if I had to destroy the entire rear section of the cave, I would extract all of the mithril.

It was better to personally defuse a bomb than sleep on top of it.

‘If neither of us had known about the other’s existence, this thing probably would have remained quiet.’

They say ignorance is bliss.

Maybe I had awakened something that should have remained dormant.

But it was too late now.

What was done was done.

Just in case, I put the sloth on my back and started mining.

Clang! Clang!

I wasn’t mining the mithril directly.

I was carefully removing the surrounding rock.

I needed to see with my own eyes how large that vein really was.

Fortunately, it seemed to extend only within the cave.

‘Games and reality really are completely different.’

In a certain block-based world, all you needed was an iron pickaxe to dig down into lava-filled areas.

Only superhuman protagonists could do something like that.

I was just a human who had fallen into the Forest of Four Seasons because of a joke played by the gods.

I sighed, but right now the important thing was to keep digging.

Clang! Clang!

How much time had passed?

When I dug down to a depth roughly equal to my height, the overall outline gradually began to reveal itself.

“Ah, damn it. Seriously.”

I take it back.

What I had seen so far was nothing more than 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.

‘I’m going crazy.’

At this rate, I would have to destroy not just the back of the cave but the entire cave.

And even then, I still needed a place to sleep.

I was already starting to feel like giving up.

I stared at the shining mithril vein with a defeated expression.

‘Was it Gyeongju?’

They say that in that region, all you have to do is dig in your yard to find relics.

And here I was getting a headache because I found mithril.

And not just any mithril.

One that could turn into a Guardian.

Orichalcum was already scary enough.

A mithril Guardian sounded even worse.

‘There’s no alternative. I’ll have to extract all of it.’

I changed my plan.

My goal now was to find the source of that life by excavating the entire vein.

Maybe it would never become a Guardian.

But I couldn’t ignore the worst-case scenario.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

So I kept mining.

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

If I didn’t get rid of this thing, my life would be in danger.

This was literally an excavation where my life was on the line.

Fortunately, I also had the pickaxe DwarfPassingBy had given me.

The mithril fragments and blocks I extracted were stored in the storage bag.

“Haah… haaah…”

After an entire hour of using the pickaxe, I was the one who ended up exhausted.

And the mithril vein still looked just as imposing as before.

In fact, the more I struck it, the harder it seemed to become.

Or rather, the deeper I dug, the tougher it became.

‘I definitely need DwarfPassingBy to make me a mithril pickaxe.’

Or I needed to finally complete the Aura Blade.

I wasn’t making any progress at all.

Still, I had to keep doing everything I could.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

[WildGrills: HeavenlyDemon. I’ll give you a block of mithril. Use it to make yourself a weapon.]

[WildGrills: It’s my way of repaying you for the sword you gave me.]

[HeavenlyDemon: There was no need to go that far. Your kindness will be your downfall someday.]

[WildGrills: I owe my life several times over to that sword.]

[WildGrills: If it weren’t for it, I’d already be dead.]

[WildGrills: So please accept it.]

[HeavenlyDemon: Refusing it would also be disrespectful.]

[HeavenlyDemon: I will accept it with gratitude.]

I took a break and gave a block of mithril to HeavenlyDemon.

[WildGrills: Mithril isn’t exactly cheap, so I hope you’ll accept it.]

[SunForEver: Saying mithril is pocket change is something not even a king could get away with saying. ;;]

[WildGrills: Then please accept it.]

[WildGrills: It’s my way of thanking you for all the shields you’ve given me.]

[SunForEver: Didn’t you already give me an adult mandrake? I think that was more than enough.]

[WildGrills: So you don’t want it?]

[SunForEver: There’s no one who refuses something free.]

[SunForEver: Thanks. I think I’ll make some kind of accessory with this.]

[WildGrills: Thank you very much.]

I also gave a block of mithril to SunForEver, who had been providing me with shields.

After that, I returned to mining.

It was a never-ending battle.

However, even when night came, I still hadn’t managed to extract the entire vein.

‘I guess I’ll have to sleep as far away from it as possible.’

After spending the whole day swinging a pickaxe, my hands were completely numb.

While massaging my aching palms, I opened the gallery.

There were about thirty minutes left until dinner, so I planned to pass the time browsing.

‘I’ve got a message from DwarfPassingBy.’

I had been sending him mithril every time I extracted some.

And along the way, I kept insisting that he make me a solid mithril pickaxe.

Judging by when the message arrived, I assumed he had already finished it or was working on it.

[DwarfPassingBy: Hey. We’re screwed.]

However, the message was far from what I expected.

It was short, direct, and perfectly described the situation he was in.

Seeing it made me more curious than worried.

[WildGrills: What happened?]

[DwarfPassingBy: The mithril won’t melt.]

[WildGrills: …? What do you mean?]

[DwarfPassingBy: No matter what I do, I can’t melt it down to pour it into a mold.]

[DwarfPassingBy: And it won’t break either.]

Then he added:

[DwarfPassingBy: I investigated it.]

[DwarfPassingBy: It contains an absurd amount of mana.]

[DwarfPassingBy: It would take a special furnace to melt it.]

[DwarfPassingBy: So I think I’ll have to return it to you.]

[WildGrills: You’re not telling me I’ll have to melt it down and make my own equipment, are you?]

[DwarfPassingBy: Yes. Exactly.]

Damn it.

[DwarfPassingBy: But one thing is certain. The performance will be ridiculously good. Hahaha.]

What he really meant was that he had just added even more items to the list of things I needed to do.