116. Mining (3): What is Life?
What is life? That's a profoundly deep question. We're beings granted life and simultaneously promised death. Racing toward death, we desperately try to leave behind biological or spiritual descendants. It's a subject worthy of deep philosophical and scientific study—a creation of the gods. Life itself is the epitome of the bizarre.
So here's another question: What criteria divide one life from another? Scholars have drawn lines based on various standards, but those are all ultimately subjective. Objectively classifying life is practically impossible. Even the Gallery system wouldn't be exempt. It must be infused with the creator's subjective views. The problem is that everything else has traded just fine up until now. Right before my eyes gleamed the magnificent form of Mithril. For some reason, the Gallery had judged this Mithril as "alive."
"……."
I stared at the Mithril, lost in thought. My head was filled with the question, 'Why the hell?' Minerals chipped off from this vein could be traded. But the entire vein couldn't. Because it was deemed alive.
'Could it have a core inside like the guardians?' If so, that'd be dangerous. It might mean this Mithril vein could act like a guardian. Even buried deep underground, it was unsettling. The Gallery had classified it as a living being, so caution was necessary.
'But after all that pounding, it just sat there……' The guardian reacted the instant mana was used, but this didn't budge even after I hammered it with mana. What kind of ecology did this vein even have? It was hard to comprehend. In the end, all I knew was that the vein was alive.
What if it didn't take a fixed form like a guardian, but stayed amorphous like a slime from some game? What if one day, while I was sleeping, it suddenly spiked up in a thorny form—bam! That'd be a fatal wound at minimum. The human body is fragile. One pierce through the skull, and you're done for in this world. With that kind of risk, I couldn't just ignore a living vein.
'Should I ask the dwarf first?' A living vein. Only the dwarf could answer that. If even he didn't know, I'd post on the Gallery.
Yo. Emergency. Question: PassingDwarf, wtf? Are there such things as living…… veins?
PassingDwarf What bullshit is this? What'd you score in Korean class? Parents passed away, so I focused on work over school. Barely kept attendance.
PassingDwarf Ah shit, don't say it like that—you make me sound like the asshole;; So get serious and answer.
PassingDwarf What do you mean a mineral's alive? Talking about Mithril? Yeah. Observed after you mentioned it—shards were wriggling and reattaching. Tried trading just in case, but got the "can't trade living things" message.
PassingDwarf No clue. Just ask the Gallery. I know it's not bullshit, but idk lol
Even the expert dwarf gave up thinking about it. In the end, I decided to ask the Gallery. Someone had to know. Just in case, I recorded the whole process on video. Bonus: chipped off a few shards. You can screenshot or video the Gallery window too.
Can minerals have life in them?
YasaengGrill (Mithril vein photo)
(Video of trying to trade Mithril—impossible message pops up)
(Video of shards wriggling and reattaching to the vein)
Exactly as shown in the videos. PassingDwarf confirmed it's Mithril. But he said Mithril isn't alive—anyone seen this? Wtf is causing this?
└Cheonma It's wriggling like an earthworm. Struggling to survive, it seems.
└SwordTasteStar Looks like it's bulking up?
└What am I even watching?
└Living to see Mithril shards crawling like worms;;
└Even in the Four Seasons Forest, does that make sense?
└Maybe a core embedded inside?
└Whatever, Grills. Gimme some Mithril. I'll put it to good use.
└Wait, that really is Mithril lol
└Everyone's so shocked they're focusing on the video over the Mithril lol
└Quick situational awareness even then lol
└Olfather The Gallery deems it life…… That means the mineral has a "self" equivalent.
└YasaengGrill A self? Like awareness?
└Olfather Yes. Seems the Gallery blocks trades if it detects a self. Proven by my long research.
└So plants have no self? Herbs and trees trade fine.
└Olfather Having a self means thinking. Learning through thought, and evolving further.
└Then cancer's alive too. Why trade that?
└Olfather Who said that?
└Saw it in an old book.
└Olfather You seem to lack a self. Entrusting it to others instead of thinking for yourself. Shall I take that head of yours? I have friends who'd love it.
└Sure;;
└YasaengGrill So this vein has a self? One that can think and judge on its own?
└Olfather Yes. And it's not unheard of for inorganic matter to gain a self. Ego weapons—you know of them? Weapons infused with a self.
└Don'tAbandonHero Ah! I know that! The hero's holy sword is an ego weapon too!
└Olfather Excellent example. But a mineral gaining a self without being forged into a weapon…… First I've seen. Best to be cautious. Could birth a guardian.
└Mithril guardian? Lmao
└Can you even catch that thing?
└Mithril's already tough—guardian shows up, Grills is dead
└Truly horrifying;;
└YasaengGrill So there's a part handling this Mithril's self?
└Olfather High likelihood.
└Don'tAbandonHero For holy swords, it's the gem in the hilt center!
└YasaengGrill Didn't ask.
└Don'tAbandonHero Yes……!
└YasaengGrill Sorry. Got worked up and was harsh.
└Don'tAbandonHero It's fine! I've heard worse! Even got called a bitch once!
└YasaengGrill ;; Suddenly felt bad for the head mod, but whatever. Perks of the badge. I gazed at the Mithril vein presumed to house a self. How to deal with this thing? Mining felt risky now.
"Ahem. Buddy?"
"……"
"If you can hear me, could you move aside?"
I suggested very politely. Felt kinda crazy, but I was serious. Of course, the vein didn't budge. No ears, after all. Not all life has ears. Would a jellyfish listen if you talked to it? Hell no.
"Sigh. No dice."
Couldn't leave it like this. I made a fateful decision for the shelter's sake. Even if it meant gutting the entire back of the cave, I'd mine out every bit of Mithril. Better I defuse the bomb myself than leave it primed below.
'If we hadn't noticed each other, it'd have stayed quiet.' Ignorance is bliss—I'd poked the sleeping bear. But what could I do? It was done. For safety, I slung Ppareumbo on my back and started mining. Chop! Thwack! Not hacking the Mithril directly, but carving around it gently. Needed to gauge its full size. Luckily, it seemed confined to the cave interior.
'Games and reality are worlds apart.' In some blocky world, you could dig to lava with an iron pick. Protagonists are superhumans, I guess. Me? Just a human pranked into the Four Seasons Forest by the gods. A sigh escaped, but mining came first. Chop! Thwack!
How much time passed? Digging down to my height revealed its outline bit by bit.
"Ah. Goddamn it. For real."
Correction: What I'd seen was just the tip of the iceberg. No end in sight no matter how deep I went. Where the hell did this vein stretch to? Hard to estimate.
'Driving me insane.' This meant overturning not just the back, but the whole cave. Even so, I wanted to sleep inside. Rest tempted me more. With a heavy heart, I stared at the glittering Mithril vein.
'Gyeongju, right? Dig in any yard there, and you hit artifacts.' Gave me a headache just thinking about it. And this might birth a guardian. Oriharukon guardians were nightmare enough—Mithril one? No thanks.
'No choice. Mine it all out.' Plan changed: Extract the Mithril to find the life's source. Wasn't sure it'd become a guardian, but couldn't ignore the worst case.
Clang! Clank! Clank! So I mined diligently. My hands grew numb, but I endured. If I couldn't kill it, my life was at stake. Life-or-death mining. Timely: the dwarf's pickaxe. Stored fallen Mithril chunks and nuggets in my subspace bag.
"Huff…… Hah……"
After an hour of pickaxing, I tired first. The vein stood firm. Strangely, it felt harder the more I swung—stronger with every penetration.
'Gotta get the dwarf to make a Mithril pickaxe.' Or complete Aura Blade. No progress otherwise. Still, do what I could. Pennies make a pound, right?
Cheonma. Here's a Mithril chunk—make yourself a weapon. Payment for the sword I gave before.
Cheonma No need, truly. You're too generous. That sword's saved my life countless times. I'd be dead without it. So please, accept this.
Cheonma Refusing would be rude. Gratefully accepted.
During break, sent Cheonma a chunk. Mithril ain't pocket change, right?
SunForever Calling Mithril pocket change? Even a king couldn't say that;;
Then accept it. Repayment for the shields you gave.
SunForever You gave adult mandrakes? That's plenty. Don't like it?
SunForever Nobody hates freebies. Thanks. Make some jewelry with it.
Gave SunForever—who gifted shields—a chunk too. Then back to mining. Endless battle. But couldn't finish by evening.
'Gotta sleep far away at night.' Hands numb from all-day pickaxing. Rubbing my tingling palms, I logged into the Gallery. 30 minutes till dinner—time for some scrolling.
'Message from the dwarf.' Gave him Mithril every time I mined some. Bonus request: Make a solid Mithril pickaxe, no exceptions. Message now? Probably done or in progress.
PassingDwarf Yo. Fucked.
Way off my guess. Short, concise, perfectly summed up his plight. More curious than worried, I replied.
Why?
PassingDwarf Mithril won't melt.
? Wtf?
PassingDwarf No matter what, won't melt—can't pour into mold. Won't even break.
PassingDwarf Checked: mana overload inside. Needs special forge to melt. Gotta send it back?
Not saying I have to melt it and make gear, right?
PassingDwarf Yeah, exactly. Shit.
PassingDwarf But performance'll be insane lol
My workload just skyrocketed. Right on cue.