Got a Gallery in the Wild

My eyes were emitting light.

Normally, that expression is used figuratively.

It doesn’t mean someone’s eyes literally shine, but rather that they showed great interest in something.

But in my case, my eyes were actually emitting light.

I realized it immediately thanks to everyone’s reaction.

Wonmo and Tyran loved that my eyes were glowing.

Ludwig, on the other hand.

Had the expression of someone who had just seen the most absurd thing in his life.

He seemed to be thinking.

‘Is this guy really a human?’

He had probably experienced all sorts of things during his years as the Commander of the Holy Knights, but someone like me had to be something new even for him.

Title) Has anyone ever had light coming out of their eyes, nose, and mouth?

WildGrills

(Photo of Grills’ face inside a dark cave, with light coming out of his eyes, nose, and mouth)

That’s me!

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) What the hell happened to you? Did a vengeful spirit possess your body?

ㄴWildGrills) No. I ate the Pumpkin Jack’s internal core and ended up like this.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Was that the internal core’s original effect?

ㄴSwordmaster) To begin with, I’d never seen a Pumpkin Jack with an internal core.

ㄴNow everything has an internal core.

ㄴEven an ordinary fish had one. LOL.

ㄴAt this point, it feels like every living creature has one.

ㄴBut just looking at the photo, you really look like a ghost. LOL.

ㄴAre you sure you’re still human?

ㄴHahahahahahaha.

ㄴLOL.

ㄴDamn, I don’t know why this is so funny. LOL.

ㄴThat’s a perfectly valid question. LOL.

ㄴHe’s looking less and less human and more like something else. LOL.

ㄴStarlightPrincess) Haven’t you felt any strange urges? Like wanting to eat human flesh or drink blood?

ㄴWildGrills) Why would you say something so terrifying…? ;;

ㄴStarlightPrincess) It’s mentioned in some records about humans transforming into yokai. There are ancient texts that mention it. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like you’re turning into one.

ㄴWildGrills) ;;;

ㄴStarlightPrincess) Even so, you’d better be careful. The ancient texts never mention anyone whose eyes emitted light.

ㄴAllFather) Actually, there was one such case. It was someone whose eyes had been torn out and who used artificial eyes.

ㄴStarlightPrincess) There was really someone like that? And why would they do something like that?

ㄴAllFather) According to the records, the only reason was, “Because it looked cool.”

ㄴTo be fair, it does look cool. LOL.

ㄴHow could it not when your eyes glow? LOL.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Hey, if someone cut off your head, would it still keep glowing? Then you’d really be a human flashlight.

ㄴWildGrills) Don’t say such gruesome things… ;;

ㄴHeroDontThrowAway) So what did Ludwig say about it?

ㄴWildGrills) As long as you ignore the look on his face that said, ‘What the hell did I just see?’, everything’s fine. Though he also asked me to turn my head away because I was blinding him.

ㄴSo in the end, you were just being a nuisance. LOL.

ㄴHow are you supposed to sleep like that? LOL.

ㄴDemonPrincess) We demons have Demonic Eyes, but Grills has Radiant Eyes! Could it be that he actually belongs to the Celestial Race?

ㄴWildGrills) I have no idea. ;; And what exactly is the Celestial Race? Does something like that even exist?

ㄴDemonPrincess) I just said it for fun! ♪

ㄴWell, there isn’t a Celestial Race, but there are angels.

ㄴAren’t angels semi-divine beings?

ㄴYes. That’s why most people who ascend or attain enlightenment end up becoming angels.

ㄴOh. Then did the Blood Demon also become an angel?

ㄴNo idea. After all, that’s part of mythology. LOL.

ㄴA Blood Demon becoming an angel what a crazy thought.

ㄴIt doesn’t fit at all. LOL.

ㄴMeanwhile, you can’t even see Grills’ face.

ㄴThat’s because the cave is way too dark.

The moment I posted the photo, the Gallery exploded with comments.

Had they ever seen anyone like me before?

Probably not.

I closed the Gallery and looked outside the cave.

The light illuminated the darkness just like a high-powered flashlight.

With something like this, moving around at night wouldn’t be a problem at all.

‘Though how the hell do I turn this off?’

The problem was whether I could control it.

I tried everything—focusing my vision, blinking repeatedly.

But the light wouldn’t turn off.

I didn’t notice any change in the mana inside my body either.

It remained exactly the same as before.

Was it a passive ability?

Or something I could control if I figured out how?

‘If I can’t control it, it’s going to be pretty inconvenient.’

I turned my head toward Ludwig.

The moment my light hit him, he frowned.

That was exactly the problem.

I couldn’t even have a face-to-face conversation without dazzling the other person.

The little ones found it amusing, but even they would eventually get tired of it.

‘I’ll try circulating the cultivation technique. After absorbing the internal core, there must be some kind of change.’

I decided to circulate the cultivation technique.

Maybe then I could sense something different inside my body.

‘…I don’t feel anything in particular.’

I didn’t feel anything in my dantian other than coldness.

Was it really a passive ability?

Before nightfall, my eyes hadn’t been emitting light, so it seemed quite likely.

Even so, I couldn’t give up.

If I couldn’t control it at will, this ability would lose much of its usefulness.

So, with Ludwig’s help and the Gallery users’ suggestions, I started trying all kinds of methods.

ㄴWhy don’t you try turning it off and back on by smacking yourself on the back of the head? That’s what I do when a flashlight stops working.

ㄴWildGrills) That’s for when it won’t turn on properly, idiot.

It wasn’t much help.

This was a completely new phenomenon for everyone, so nobody had any idea what to do.

In the end, I decided to leave it for another day.

After all, if I kept my eyes closed and my mouth shut, there wasn’t really a problem.

The only unavoidable thing was the light coming from my nose, though that was tolerable.

‘Though I really do feel like I’m gradually ceasing to be human.’

An aura that grew absurdly fast or the cold—those things could still be considered somewhat reasonable.

No matter how unusual they were, there had at least been some precedents.

But light coming out of my eyes, nose, and mouth.

That didn’t even appear in the ancient records.

According to StarlightPrincess, some humans who had turned into yokai had shown similar symptoms, though it wasn’t confirmed.

‘Weren’t all internal cores supposed to be beneficial?’

I wish I had known beforehand that they could have effects like this.

There was no status window, no system, or anything like that like in some novels.

I had no choice but to discover each effect one by one myself.

At least there was one piece of good news.

The amount of mana inside my body had increased tremendously.

I closed my eyes as I thought about what I needed to do the next day.

‘Winter will arrive soon. At most, in five days.’

The weather was getting colder and colder.

After several days of rain, the temperature had dropped sharply.

I’d also have to get winter clothes for Ludwig.

DwarfPassingBy could probably help me with that.

‘First, I’ll chop more firewood, and since it might snow, I’ll have to keep the fire burning much stronger.’

Once all of that was finished, I planned to go to the orichalcum cave.

Now that my eyes were glowing, it was the perfect time to test this ability.

The cave where I lived was too small, and besides, there was always a campfire burning.

‘In any case, we’ll just go there and come back. I’ll take the opportunity to show it to Ludwig.’

Practically all the preparations for winter were finished.

For a while, there would be no need to go outside anymore.

If anything, the only thing left was to prepare an emergency exit.

And that could be done quickly.

Thinking about the next day, I gradually fell asleep.

***

The next morning, the weather was a little less cold than the day before.

“It’s already morning, and the light from my eyes is gone.”

“Hmm.”

It seemed that passive ability only activated at night or in dark places.

Naturally, when Wonmo and Tyran realized I was no longer glowing, they were both disappointed.

I patted them on the head before starting to prepare breakfast.

The first thing to do was go up to the river and collect the fish traps.

“Huh?”

As soon as I reached the river, I felt something was different.

The water had always been so clear that you could easily see the bottom.

However, most of the fish swam too fast and camouflaged themselves with ease.

Flash! Gleam!

But now it was different.

There were flashes of light everywhere.

Those flashes followed the current of the river all the way until they ended.

Right inside one of the traps!

The trap was shining as if it were made of solid gold, immediately catching my attention.

‘What could that be?’

Without understanding what was happening, I collected the trap first.

Lackey, who had come with me, also helped.

When we opened it, we saw several fish flopping around inside.

The fish’s belly.

In other words, where the internal core was located.

Was glowing especially brightly.

‘…Could it be?’

Without wasting any time, I immediately returned to the shelter.

There was no reason to delay.

When I extracted the fish’s internal core, I was able to confirm it.

Although the glow was very faint.

The core shone like a star.

Everything pointed to it being an effect of the Pumpkin Jack’s internal core I had absorbed the day before.

‘Now that I think about it, the spatial backpack and the bottle where I keep the internal cores are glowing too.’

I hadn’t noticed until now.

Probably because I had only just absorbed the core yesterday.

It was an extremely useful ability.

Finding medicinal herbs would become much easier.

Since I wasn’t an expert, until now I had constantly needed to ask the Gallery to identify each plant.

‘Even so, I’d better ask the Gallery exactly how this works.’

I explained my theory to Ludwig.

After listening to me, he also seemed quite surprised.

Then I remembered something else.

The mithril that had previously been detected as a lifeform.

Would it also shine like gold dust?

With that question in mind, I headed to the back of the cave.

Flash! Flash!

The mithril wasn’t just glowing.

It was shining so intensely that it was almost blinding.

The glow was coming from deep inside it.

For some reason.

I felt even less inclined to go near it.

I had the feeling that if I tried to extract it, I would be the one who suffered.

That only increased my sense of unease.

‘Well as long as I don’t touch it, nothing should happen…’

Although I still felt uneasy, I had to continue exploring the area around the cave.

The medicinal herbs Dad Raccoon brought me were no longer enough to make more fasting pills.

I decided to head out alone to better test the range of my new ability.

Of course, I didn’t forget to bring Sloth with me.

‘That one’s glowing almost as brightly as the mithril.’

I was referring to the sapling LetsPlantTrees had given me.

While all the other plants were growing rapidly.

That was the only one that was still developing very slowly.

Had she really given me a World Tree sapling?

I was beginning to seriously suspect that she had.

‘They say a World Tree is bigger than any village. Will it really be able to grow here?’

If it did, it would destroy the entire shelter.

I shook my head to stop thinking nonsense and started exploring the surroundings.

Surprisingly, there were very few glowing things.

Most of them were just weeds.

‘What exactly is the criterion? Do they need to have at least an internal core?’

There were too many things to investigate.

After wandering around the area for a while, I returned to the cave.

Once there, I prepared everything to head to the orichalcum cave.

I wanted to find out whether the light from my eyes was a passive or an active ability.

Of course, this time we were all going together.

Leaving anyone behind could be even more dangerous.

‘At worst, the only thing they could steal would be food.’

So, everyone living at the shelter set off toward the orichalcum cave.

Ludwig was riding on Largo and calmly followed behind me.

‘Later, I’ll have to make him a saddle.’

If he was going to ride a giraffe like a horse, a saddle was essential.

As we walked, I picked every glowing herb I came across.

Then, halfway there.

I saw something glowing underground.

Could it be some valuable ore?

Without wasting any time, I took out my shovel and pickaxe.

“Ludwig, there’s something down here. Help me dig.”

“Mm.”

Ludwig immediately started digging.

I broke apart the hard ground with the pickaxe.

He shoveled away the dirt.

Thanks to our teamwork, we gradually got closer to the source of the glow.

Rumble!!

Suddenly.

The entire ground began shaking violently.

Ludwig and I immediately stopped digging.

From experience, earthquakes never meant anything good.

And, as expected.

KRAAAASH!!!

Something began emerging from the depths.

We hurriedly backed away from the rising ground.

When it finally emerged completely.

We couldn’t help but stare in astonishment.

“Is… is that a Guardian…?”

It was a golem made entirely of earth.

A Guardian.

Flash! Flash!

At the center of its chest, an internal core was shining with an intense light.

“……?#%%^#$?”

Ludwig asked me what the hell I had done.

But.

I couldn’t answer him.