There’s a saying:

Dig all day and see if you find even a single ten-won coin.

In other words, stop trying to make money doing pointless crap and get a proper job.

In reality, digging can turn up all sorts of things, and oil is the jackpot. Strike oil, and you’ll be rich in no time.

└Passing Dwarf Uh. That looks like mithril to me?

└Wild Grylls ?

But I didn’t need money. I needed something immediately useful more than cash. Even if I struck oil, a lump of steel would be more valuable in my situation.

So I couldn’t help feeling stunned when mithril, supposedly even rarer than steel, turned up.

‘Just digging up the ground turns up weird stuff in this damn forest?’

I had no idea how this place was put together. As if having an orichalcum cave right nearby wasn’t enough, now I’d dug up mithril.

Of course, I would have to carefully verify whether this really was mithril. With all sorts of speculation flying around the forum, it paid to be cautious.

└That’s mithril? Isn’t it too bright for mithril?

└Doesn’t even look mixed in with rock. Looks like just mithril sitting there.

└He found a whole cave made of orichalcum. It’s not impossible.

└Be precise. It’s impossible anywhere outside the Forest of Four Seasons.

└Oh. I think I get it. The minerals grew just like all the other animals! That’s why they look like that before they’re even smelted!

└Sounds convincing. Then why are the gorillas still the same size?

└How should I know?

└Passing Dwarf Whatever. Break off a little and send it over. I’ll check it, yeah.

└You say that, then you’ll fuck off to get drunk again lmao

└Passing Dwarf Busted lol

└What do you mean busted, you little dwarf shit lmao

└Your whole race drinks every time you take a break lol

Something among the countless comments caught my eye. Was this really mithril in its natural mineral state?

Mithril, like most minerals, was mixed into rock. Putting that ore into a furnace—a process called smelting—yielded the pure substance.

What I’d found was the pure substance sitting out in the open, with no need for smelting, which made it hard to believe. There were exceptions like diamonds, of course, but mithril wasn’t one of them.

‘Though everyone’s more or less accepting it since I’ve found an orichalcum cave before.’

Orichalcum was normally found as ore too, but I’d discovered a cave entirely made of it. Mithril was no different. Except this was in my house.

In any case, I needed to give the dwarf at least a fragment. I looked at the glowing green mithril.

‘Surely a guardian isn’t going to rise out of the floor?’

Then the whole cave would collapse, floor and all. And so would my spirits.

Unlike the orichalcum cave, though, there wasn’t really any room here. Besides, there was a bigger problem.

‘Why won’t this damn stuff break?’

Mining it was incredibly difficult. No matter how many times I struck it with my pickaxe, I couldn’t leave a scratch.

From what I vaguely remembered, it was about as strong as steel, but much lighter. It might have been another matter if it were mixed with rock, but most of the mithril was difficult to mine.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Still, what choice did I have? I just had to keep at it. No tree can withstand ten chops, as they say. Mithril was no different.

Besides, I had aura, didn’t I? I put it to work as I mined.

CLANG! CRACK!

After some time, I managed to extract a tiny bit of mithril. I’d spent so long mining that sweat was beading all over me.

‘I’ve barely mined anything, and the pickaxe is practically blunt already.’

Even aura hadn’t prevented the pickaxe from taking damage. It might enhance a tool’s effectiveness, but it wasn’t all-powerful. Using aura didn’t increase a weapon’s inherent durability.

Heavenly Demon’s sword was only so tough because it was made of something called ten-thousand-year cold iron.

I examined the thumb-sized chunk of green ore, then opened the forum. While I was at it, I hoped I could get a good-quality pickaxe from the dwarf too.

I mined some of this. Check it for me, please.

Passing Dwarf

OK.

If you tell me you’re going drinking again, you’re never getting any more.

Passing Dwarf

Damn, that’s harsh.

Fine, got it.

Easy enough to check. I’ll let you know soon.

Since the dwarf said he’d post about it, I checked the remaining mithril ore first. I wasn’t sure it even deserved to be called ore, but that was what I’d call it for now.

Unlike orichalcum, mithril could be made into weapons and all sorts of equipment. It would clearly be a huge help to me. But first, I had something to do.

‘I should give some to Heavenly Demon and All Hail the Sun.’

If this really was mithril, there were people I needed to repay right away. Heavenly Demon had given me an outrageously overpowered item, and All Hail the Sun had kept giving me shields.

I’d thought even mature mandrakes wouldn’t be enough to repay those two.

‘And I’ve damaged the shield All Hail the Sun gave me.’

Like orichalcum, mithril was a mineral that was difficult to obtain even with money. All Hail the Sun liked rare things, so wouldn’t he appreciate it?

‘First, let’s see how far this goes.’

If the whole cave floor was mithril, that would be a headache in itself. I couldn’t just leave it there, but I couldn’t tear up the entire floor either.

After some thought, I decided to stick to my original plan. I still needed somewhere to hide things, so I could just keep digging in the same spot.

‘Even this much will be a huge amount.’

I wasn’t asking for armor. I just needed some spare tools. I swung the pickaxe industriously to make my storage space.

‘Damn it. Should I just ask him to make me a mithril pickaxe?’

After five minutes of mining, I was bored out of my skull. Wiping away my sweat, I opened the forum. The dwarf should have finished checking by now.

Passing Dwarf

Hey.

Hey, hey. Read this, quick. It’s urgent.

Always gone at times like this, fuck. This is fucking urgent, so read it already.

As soon as I entered the forum, I saw the dwarf’s rather urgent-looking messages. They’d arrived just a minute ago. Reading them, I wondered.

‘Is it some other mineral instead of mithril?’

This was the guy who’d drunkenly told me, ["Yep, that’s orichalcum," ] long after it mattered. It was a little strange for him to message me like this.

What’s up?

Is it mithril?

Or is this because you can’t drink?

Passing Dwarf

I’m serious. Stop the drinking jokes.

OK, jeez.

So what’s so urgent?

Passing Dwarf

It is mithril. But it’s completely different from what I expected.

Different how?

Passing Dwarf

It’s solid mithril. Barely needs any smelting at all.

Solid mithril?

I tilted my head at that. Wasn’t that a good thing?

Passing Dwarf

Are you telling me you have no idea what you’ve found?

Yep, no clue.

Isn’t it just a good thing?

Passing Dwarf

For fuck’s sake.

Is your head an anvil? Did someone pound it with a hammer?

Stop insulting me and explain. -_-

I’m from another world. I don’t know any of this.

Passing Dwarf

I’ll explain on the assumption that your head is an anvil.

Passing Dwarf’s explanation went as follows.

Minerals were normally contained in rock, and smelting increased their purity. The same held true for mithril. The amount contained in rock and the frequency of its discovery were both lower than for other ores, so its high value was inevitable.

Even if what I’d discovered were raw ore, its sheer size would make it an absurd quantity.

Passing Dwarf

Weapons supposedly made of mithril are actually all alloys.

Solid mithril tools don’t exist. Even the rich in Setan can’t manage that.

Oh.

But I can, then?

Passing Dwarf

Yep.

If it’d been raw ore, I was going to give it back.

Huh? Why?

Didn’t you say you were a dwarf?

Passing Dwarf

I am, but normally it needs a special smelting process.

You need permission from the higher-ups to use that furnace.

Afraid they’ll catch you using the forum?

Passing Dwarf

Aside from that, it would make my real life a huuuuge fucking hassle.

If it required permission from the higher-ups, the smelting process must be pretty complicated. Well, it was rare mithril. That much made sense.

Fortunately, this was solid mithril, so simply melting it down would suffice.

Passing Dwarf

How did you mine this?

Actually, did you really mine it?

Given how strong mithril is, I’d understand if you said you picked up a loose piece.

What do you mean?

It was hard, but it broke apart like stone.

Passing Dwarf

What are YOU talking about?

What you gave me is solid mithril. Solid. It’s just a lump of metal.

What was he on about now? I frowned.

The mithril vein was hard, but in my experience, it definitely wasn’t harder than iron. If it really were, I wouldn’t have bothered swinging a pickaxe at it.

Rock that I could break with enough effort. That was the mithril I was mining.

That’s weird.

I could mine it like stone, though?

Isn’t that normal?

Passing Dwarf

Stop talking bullshit.

Even cutting it with a saw would be a struggle. What the hell?

No, seriously.

I’ll record a video and show you.

Give me a pickaxe first, though.

Passing Dwarf

No clue what bullshit you’re on about, but fine, I’ll give you one.

Made it as a spare for myself, so it should be good.

Oh. And make me a mithril pickaxe.

Digging’s hard.

Passing Dwarf

Holy fucking shit lmao

The world’s first solid mithril tool, and it’s a pickaxe lmao

I’m serious.

It’ll make it easier to mine, right?

Passing Dwarf

It’ll help a little,

but it won’t be a dramatic difference.

Reality really was different from games. In games, using the same material made mining much easier.

Still, I had mithril to spare, so having one wouldn’t hurt. Even if what I could see was all there was, it wasn’t a problem. A pickaxe was useful anywhere.

‘Will this mine better?’

I examined the pickaxe I’d received from the dwarf. It looked ordinary, except the handle was a little short. Probably because it was sized for a dwarf.

CLANG! CLANG!

Still, it performed far better than my previous pickaxe. It had a good heft and decent durability. Thanks to that, I managed to mine a fair amount of mithril.

Soon, I found myself puzzled as I turned a fist-sized chunk of mithril this way and that.

‘Weird. It’s definitely more like stone.’

Not just the texture—it lacked that distinctive hardness of metal too. Tilting my head, I sent the mithril to the dwarf.

(Video of mining mithril)

Look.

It breaks apart like stone.

Passing Dwarf

That shouldn’t be possible.

What the hell?

What you gave me is a lump of metal.

You really are good at this, right?

Passing Dwarf

Fuck, don’t insult my pride like that.

Believe it or not, I’m a master metallurgist.

Sorry. I apologize.

Anyway, I’ve shown you.

Passing Dwarf

Fuck lmao. Feels like everything I know is falling apart.

You don’t feel anything strange?

I was just about to reply, “Not at all?”

A mithril fragment lying on the floor shifted ever so slightly.

‘... What?’

For a moment, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But an astonishing sight quickly proved me wrong.

The mithril fragments scattered by my mining began inching along, bit by bit. Where to? Toward the mithril vein, still gleaming brilliantly.

I left the forum window open and stared blankly at the sight.

TAP.

Before long, the fragments merged with the mithril vein. They became one again, as if they’d never broken off. I witnessed it clearly with my own two eyes.

It was almost as though it were painstakingly gathering severed pieces of its own body.

‘... No way.’

Half in disbelief, I placed my hand on the mithril vein. There was something I wanted to test.

The first rule of the auction house and private trades: living things could not be traded.

The second: to trade an item, all sides of it had to be visible.

There was no need to worry about the third rule onward. They weren’t particularly important.

There was a simple reason I’d singled out the first and second rules.

‘The second rule only applies after the first one is satisfied.’

That was how the algorithm was written. If something didn’t pass the first rule, trading it was impossible in the first place. If it were possible, I wouldn’t be trapped here. There weren’t even any loopholes in that first rule.

In other words...

Living things cannot be traded.

It was proof that this mithril vein was alive, like a living organism.

In this insane forest, even the minerals were living and breathing.