WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈

Chapter 116: Mining (3)

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What was life?

A truly profound question.

Beings granted life at the same time they were promised death.

Beings who struggled to leave behind biological or spiritual descendants because they were hurtling toward death.

Creations of God, and a subject worth studying deeply from both philosophical and scientific perspectives.

Life itself was the very essence of strangeness.

That brought up another question: What was the criterion for distinguishing life?

Scholars had established numerous criteria, but they were ultimately subjective.

Objectively defining life was practically impossible.

The gallery system would be no different. Its creator's subjective views had to be reflected in it.

The problem was that I'd traded every other object without issue.

The Mithril gleamed brilliantly before my eyes.

For some reason, the gallery had determined that this Mithril was alive.

“......”

I stared at the Mithril, lost in thought.

One question filled my head.

‘Why the hell?’

Minerals broken off from this vein could be traded.

But the vein as a whole couldn't. It had been deemed alive.

‘Could it have a Core inside, like a Guardian?’

If so, that was dangerous. It meant this Mithril vein could become active like a Guardian.

It was buried underground, so I couldn't be sure, but that didn't make it any less unsettling.

The gallery had judged it to be a living creature. I needed to be careful.

‘Considering I beat the hell out of it and it stayed still...’

The Guardian had reacted the instant I used mana, but this thing showed no response even when I struck it with mana.

What kind of ecology did this vein even have? It was impossible to understand.

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

What if it didn't take a form like a Guardian, but stayed shapeless like a slime from some game?

What if, one day while I was sleeping, it suddenly went ta-da! and shot up as spikes?

Then what? At best, I'd suffer a life-threatening wound. The human body was fragile.

The moment my head got pierced, it'd be goodbye to this world.

With that kind of danger, I couldn't just leave a living mineral vein alone.

‘Should I ask the dwarf first?’

A living mineral vein. Passing Dwarf was the only one I could ask about this.

If even Passing Dwarf didn't know, I planned to make a post in the gallery.

[You]: Hey. Emergency. Emergency.

[You]: Let me ask you something.

[Passing Dwarf]: What is it?

[You]: Can mineral veins be alive...?

[Passing Dwarf]: What kind of bullshit is that?

[Passing Dwarf]: What was your Korean grade when you were in school?

[You]: My parents passed away, so I focused on work instead of school.

[You]: I barely met the attendance requirement, too.

[Passing Dwarf]: Ah, fuck. When you put it that way, I look like an asshole;;

[You]: So stop screwing around and answer seriously.

[Passing Dwarf]: What mineral are you saying is alive?

[Passing Dwarf]: You mean Mithril?

[You]: Yeah. I watched it after hearing what you said, and the fragments around it squirmed back and stuck to the vein.

[You]: I tried trading it just in case, and all I got was a message saying living things couldn't be traded.

[Passing Dwarf]: No idea.

[Passing Dwarf]: Ask the gallery. I know it isn't bullshit, but I seriously don't know. LOL

Even the dwarf, an expert, had given up trying to figure it out.

In the end, I decided to ask the gallery. Someone had to know.

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

Since I could take photos and videos of the gallery window too, that was possible.

[Post title] Can minerals have life in them?

[Author] Wild Grylls

[Post] (A photo of the Mithril vein)

[Post] (A video of a message saying the Mithril cannot be traded)

[Post] (A video of the fragments squirming over and reattaching themselves to the vein)

[Post] You can see it in the videos. Passing Dwarf told me it was Mithril.

[Post] But they said Mithril wasn't alive. Has anyone seen anything like this?

[Post] What the hell is causing this?

└ [Heavenly Demon]: It crawls like an earthworm. It looks like it's struggling to survive.

└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Does it look like it's trying to make itself bigger?

└ What am I looking at?

└ I've lived long enough to see Mithril fragments crawling around like earthworms;;

└ Even in the Forest of Four Seasons, does that make any sense?

└ Could there be something like a Core embedded inside?

└ Enough with that, Grylls. Give me some Mithril. I'll put it to good use.

└ Come to think of it, that really is Mithril. LOL

└ Everyone seems too shocked by the video to care about the Mithril. LOL

└ That bastard is quick to size up the situation even now. LOL

└ [Allfather]: The gallery determined it was alive... That is effectively the same as saying that mineral possesses a self.

└ [Wild Grylls]: A self?

└ [Allfather]: Yes. It seems the gallery cannot trade anything it determines possesses a self. That is the conclusion of my long research.

└ So plants don't have selves? You can trade herbs and trees just fine.

└ [Allfather]: Possessing a self means being able to think. One learns through thought and develops further.

└ You're saying cancer is alive. Then why can't cancer be traded?

└ [Allfather]: Who said that?

└ I read it in an old book.

└ [Allfather]: It appears you lack a self. Seeing as you don't think for yourself and instead rely on the selves of others. Shall we trade? Will you entrust that head of yours to me? I happen to have a friend too.

└ Sorry;;

└ [Wild Grylls]: So this vein has a self, right? A self that can think and make decisions on its own?

└ [Allfather]: That is highly likely.

└ [Allfather]: Moreover, it is not unheard of for inanimate objects to possess a self. Do you know of Ego Weapons? They are weapons imbued with a self.

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Ah! I know about those too! The Hero's holy sword is also a weapon with a self!

└ [Allfather]: An excellent example. Still, this is the first time I have seen a mineral that was not crafted into a weapon possess a self... You should be careful. A Guardian may be born.

└ A Mithril Guardian? That's fucking insane. LOL

└ Can you even kill that?

└ Mithril alone is bad enough. If a Guardian appears, Grylls is just going to die.

└ That's genuinely terrifying;;

└ [Wild Grylls]: So there must be some part of this Mithril that handles its self?

└ [Allfather]: That is highly likely.

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: In the case of a holy sword, it's the gem embedded in the center of the hilt!

└ [Wild Grylls]: I didn't ask.

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Okay...!

└ [Wild Grylls]: Sorry. I'm stressed, so I spoke too harshly.

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: It's okay! I've heard much worse! Someone even called me a c*nt once!

└ [Wild Grylls]: ;;

I suddenly felt sorry for the Head Mod, but let’s move on. Such were the hardships of being a moderator.

I stared at the Mithril vein that supposedly possessed a self.

How could I get rid of this thing?

I was scared an accident would happen while I mined.

“Ahem. Friend?”

“......”

“If you can hear me, could you move aside?”

So I made a very polite suggestion. It might make me look like a fucking idiot, but I was serious.

Of course, the mineral vein didn't move.

It had no ears. Not every living creature had ears.

Would a jellyfish listen if you spoke to it? Absolutely not.

“Hmm. This won't do.”

I couldn't leave it alone like this. I made a decision to save the nation.

Even if I had to tear up the entire back half of the cave, I would mine out every last bit of Mithril.

Rather than sleep with a bomb beneath me, I'd defuse it myself.

‘If neither of us had known the other existed, this thing would've stayed still.’

Ignorance was bliss. It felt like I'd needlessly awakened something that had been sleeping.

Still, what could I do? It had already happened.

Just in case, I put Fast Sloth on my back and began mining.

Crack! Whack!

Rather than mine the Mithril directly, I carefully chipped away at the area around it.

I needed to see just how large this Mithril was.

Thankfully, it seemed to exist only inside the cave.

‘Games and reality really are completely different.’

In some blocky world, you could dig all the way down to lava with nothing but an iron pickaxe.

I guess only superhumans could be protagonists.

I was just a human dropped into the Forest of Four Seasons by some god's prank.

I sighed, but mining came first right now.

Crack! Whack!

How much time had passed?

After digging down as deep as my height, I could gradually make out its overall shape.

“Ah. Goddamn it. Seriously.”

I took that back. What I'd seen was only the tip of the iceberg.

No matter how much I dug, there was no end in sight.

How far did this vein extend? It was impossible to estimate.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

At this rate, I'd have to tear up not just the back of the cave, but the entire cave.

No matter what, I still had to sleep inside, but all I wanted was to rest.

With a heavy heart, I looked at the glittering Mithril vein.

‘Was it Gyeongju? They say you can dig up artifacts just by digging in your yard there.’

I was getting a headache because I found Mithril.

And it was a mineral that might even give birth to a Guardian.

As if Orichalcum weren't bad enough, now there could be a Mithril Guardian?

‘It can't be helped. I have no choice but to mine it all out.’

I changed my plan. I would mine the Mithril and find the source of its life.

I didn't know if it would really become a Guardian, but I couldn't ignore the worst-case scenario.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

So I mined with all my strength. My hands gradually began to tingle, but I endured.

If I couldn't kill this thing, my life would be in danger.

This really was life-or-death mining. Luckily, I had the pickaxe Passing Dwarf gave me.

I stored the pieces and chunks of Mithril that fell off in my Subspace Bag.

“Huff... Haa...”

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

The Mithril vein still stood strong.

Strangely, the more I swung the pickaxe, the harder it felt.

More precisely, it grew tougher the deeper I dug into it.

‘I need to make Passing Dwarf craft me a Mithril pickaxe no matter what.’

Or I needed to finish Aura Blade. There had been no progress at all.

Still, I had to do as much as I could. Every little bit added up.

[You]: Heavenly Demon.

[You]: I'll give you a chunk of Mithril, so please get yourself a weapon with it.

[You]: It's payment for the sword you gave me before.

[Heavenly Demon]: You do not need to do this.

[Heavenly Demon]: Your kindness will be your undoing.

[You]: I've owed my life to the sword you gave me several times now.

[You]: If I didn't have this sword, I would've died long ago.

[You]: So please accept it.

[Heavenly Demon]: Refusing would be discourteous as well.

[Heavenly Demon]: I shall accept it with gratitude.

During my break, I gave a chunk of Mithril to Heavenly Demon.

[You]: Mithril isn't pocket change, so you'll accept it, right?

[AllHailTheSun]: Even a king couldn't call Mithril pocket change;;

[You]: Then please accept it. It's repayment for the shields you gave me.

[AllHailTheSun]: You already gave me an Adult Mandrake, didn't you?

[AllHailTheSun]: I thought that was enough?

[You]: So you don't want it?

[AllHailTheSun]: No one dislikes free stuff.

[AllHailTheSun]: Thanks.

[AllHailTheSun]: I should make some accessories with this.

[You]: Thank you.

I gave a chunk of Mithril to AllHailTheSun as well, in return for the shields.

After that, I started mining again. It was a battle without end.

But I couldn't mine it all out by evening.

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

After swinging a pickaxe all day, my hands were numb.

I rubbed my tingling palms and logged into the gallery.

There were around thirty minutes until dinner, so I planned to browse the gallery until then.

‘There’s a message from the dwarf.’

Whenever I mined Mithril, I sent it to Passing Dwarf.

I'd also asked him to make me a solid Mithril pickaxe no matter what.

Since I'd received a message now, I figured it had either been finished or was being made.

[Passing Dwarf]: Hey. I’m fucked.

But the message I received was far from what I expected.

It was short, concise, and perfectly summarized his situation.

The moment I saw it, I replied with curiosity rather than worry.

[You]: Why?

[Passing Dwarf]: The Mithril won't melt.

[You]: ? 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.

[Passing Dwarf]: It won't even break.

What Passing Dwarf said next was...

[Passing Dwarf]: I checked it, and there's an excessive amount of mana inside.

[Passing Dwarf]: To melt it, I need a specially made blast furnace.

[Passing Dwarf]: So I think I need to return it?

[You]: You aren't saying I have to melt it myself and make the equipment too, right?

[Passing Dwarf]: Yeah, that's right.

[You]: Fuck.

[Passing Dwarf]: Still, its performance will be insanely good. LOL

That directly meant I had more work to do.

Footnotes:

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