Chapter 206

Jack-o’-Lantern (3)

Light was coming from my eyes.

Usually, that expression was used figuratively.

It didn’t mean that someone’s eyes were literally emitting light. It simply meant they had shown keen interest in something.

But actual light was shining from my eyes.

Thanks to everyone’s reactions, I noticed it fairly quickly.

Wonmo and Tyranno loved seeing light come out of my eyes.

Ludwig, on the other hand... reacted as though he had witnessed something utterly bizarre.

He stared at me with an expression that seemed to ask, Is this thing truly human?

He must have spent many years as a paladin, but I was probably the first case like this he had ever encountered.

Title: Who Has Light Coming from His Eyes, Nose, and Mouth?

Wild Grylls

(A photo of Grylls’s face glowing from the eyes, nose, and mouth inside the dark cave)

Me!

└ Heavenly Demon: What in the world happened to you? Have you been possessed by an evil spirit?

└ Wild Grylls: No. This happened after I ate Pumpkin Jack’s inner core.

└ Heavenly Demon: Does that inner core ordinarily possess such an effect?

└ SwordMaster: I’ve never even heard of a Pumpkin Jack possessing an inner core.

└ Everything he encounters has an inner core;

└ Even an ordinary fish had one, so whatever, lol.

└ At this point, we should assume that every living creature has one.

└ But judging by the picture alone, he looks like a freaking ghost, lmaooo.

└ Is he actually human?

└ Lmaoooooooo.

└ Why is such a simple question so funny? Lmaooo.

└ It’s a genuinely fundamental question, lmao.

└ The more I see of him, the more he seems to be turning into something inhuman, lol.

└ Starlight Princess: Do you feel any urges to eat human flesh or drink blood?

└ Wild Grylls: Why would you say something so terrifying?;;

└ Starlight Princess: It appears in some records of people transforming into specters. There’s an old account that mentions such urges. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem as though you’re becoming one.

└ Wild Grylls: ;;;

└ Starlight Princess: Still, you should remain cautious. There are no records of people emitting light from their eyes, even in ancient texts.

└ All-Father: There was one such person. A man whose eyes had been gouged out used glowing objects as prosthetic eyes.

└ Starlight Princess: Someone actually did that? Why?

└ All-Father: The records offer no explanation beyond, "Because it looked impressive."

└ Honestly, it does sound cool, lmao.

└ How could anyone resist having glowing eyes? Lmaooo.

└ Passing Dwarf: Does the light keep shining if you cut off your head? Because then you’d be a real human lantern.

└ Wild Grylls: Don’t say something so horrifying;;

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero: What did Sir Ludwig say about it?!

└ Wild Grylls: Other than looking at me as if he’d seen something completely bizarre, he seems fine. He also told me to turn my head because it was too bright.

└ So you’re just being a nuisance, lmaooo.

└ Will you even be able to sleep? Lmao.

└ Cheonggu Princess: We demons have inverted eyes, while Mr. Grylls has luminous eyes! Are you perhaps one of the Celestials?

└ Wild Grylls: I don’t know anything about that;; And what are the Celestials? Is that an actual race?

└ Cheonggu Princess: I was just saying it for fun!

└ They do exist. Though they’re called angels, not Celestials.

└ Aren’t angels demigod-level beings?

└ Yeah. That’s why most people who ascend to the heavens or attain immortality become angels.

└ Oh. Then did the Blood Demon become an angel too?

└ How would I know? Lmao. It’s only mythology.

└ Angel Blood Demon, let’s go.

└ That combination does not work at all, lmao.

└ Meanwhile, you can’t even see Grylls’s face.

└ The cave is dark. It can’t be helped.

The gallery erupted into an uproar after I made the post.

Had any of them ever seen someone like me before?

Probably not.

I closed the gallery and looked outside the cave.

Like a high-performance flashlight, the beam brightly illuminated the darkness.

With this, I should have no difficulty navigating at night.

’But how do I turn it off?’

The question was whether I could control it.

I tried several things, such as straining my eyes and blinking repeatedly, but the light stubbornly refused to go out.

There was no noticeable change in the mana inside my body either.

It was the same as before.

Was this some kind of passive ability, or could I control it at will?

’It’ll be awkward if I can’t control it.’

I turned toward Ludwig.

He immediately frowned and squinted.

Not being able to look anyone in the face was a serious drawback.

The little ones enjoyed it, but even their fascination would fade before long.

’Let’s try circulating my cultivation technique first. Since this came from an inner core, there must be something inside me.’

I began circulating the cultivation technique to see if I could sense anything unusual.

’There’s nothing in particular.’

Other than the cold energy, I felt nothing unusual within my dantian.

Was it truly a passive ability?

The light hadn’t appeared before sunset, so that seemed highly likely.

Still, I couldn’t give up.

If I couldn’t control it at will, the ability would become far less useful.

I began conducting all kinds of experiments with help from Ludwig and the gallery.

└ Can’t you smack the back of your head to turn it off and on? That works when a lantern breaks.

└ Wild Grylls: That’s for when it won’t turn on, you lunatic.

They weren’t particularly helpful.

It was a phenomenon none of them had ever seen before, so everyone seemed equally lost.

In the end, I decided to leave the matter for tomorrow.

As long as I closed my eyes and kept my mouth shut, it was fine.

I couldn’t do anything about the light coming from my nose, but that much was bearable.

’Still, I really do seem to be turning into something other than human.’

My absurdly expanding aura and the cold energy within me still fell within the bounds of common sense.

They were rare, but not entirely unprecedented.

Yet according to the gallery, there wasn’t even a single mention in the literature of anyone emitting light from their eyes, nose, and mouth.

Starlight Princess said similar symptoms had been observed in some people transforming into specters, but even she wasn’t certain.

’Aren’t inner cores always supposed to be beneficial?’

It would have been nice to know about this effect beforehand.

Unlike the protagonists of certain novels, I had no status window or system.

I had no choice but to investigate every new ability myself, one by one.

At least the amount of mana in my body had increased tremendously.

I closed my eyes and considered what I needed to do tomorrow.

’Winter will arrive soon. Five days at the latest.’

The steadily falling temperature was proof.

After several bouts of rain, the weather had suddenly grown much colder.

It was about time I obtained winter clothing for Ludwig as well.

Passing Dwarf should be able to help with that.

’First, I need to do some logging. It might snow soon, so I should also keep the fire burning strongly.’

Once I finished all those tasks, I planned to visit the Orichalcum Cave.

Now that light came from my eyes, I ought to test its performance.

The cave where I lived was too small, and the campfire made it difficult to tell how effective the light truly was.

’We’re only going there and coming straight back. I can introduce Ludwig to the place while we’re at it.’

Our winter preparations were nearly complete.

We wouldn’t need to venture far from the shelter for a while.

The only remaining task was perhaps creating an emergency exit, but that wouldn’t take long.

I slowly drifted off to sleep while planning the following day.

***

Morning arrived.

The weather was slightly warmer than it had been the day before.

"The light stopped coming from my eyes once the sun came up."

"Hmm."

Apparently, it was a passive ability that activated only at night or in dark places.

Wonmo and Tyranno were naturally disappointed when they discovered this.

I stroked their heads and began preparing breakfast.

First, I needed to head upstream and retrieve the fish trap.

"Hm?"

The moment I reached the river, something felt strange.

The river was usually so clear that I could see everything inside it.

However, most creatures were difficult to distinguish because they moved quickly and were naturally camouflaged.

Sparkle! Sparkle!

But now things were slightly different.

Points of light glittered throughout the river.

They traveled along the current before getting caught in the fish trap with a thump.

The area around the trap glittered like a mass of gold, immediately drawing my attention.

’W-What is that?’

I didn’t know, so I decided to retrieve the trap first.

Kkobong, who had accompanied me, helped as well.

Once we hauled it out, I saw several fish flopping around inside.

Their bellies—the parts containing their inner cores—were glowing particularly brightly.

Could it be?

I immediately gathered everything and returned to the shelter.

There was no reason to delay.

When I extracted the inner core from one of the fish, I confirmed my suspicion.

Although the glow was extremely faint, the inner core twinkled like a star.

It seemed to be another effect of the Pumpkin Jack’s inner core.

’Come to think of it, my subspace backpack and the bottle containing the inner cores are glowing too.’

I had only just noticed them.

Perhaps the effect hadn’t fully developed yesterday because I had only recently consumed the core.

This would be enormously useful.

It should make finding medicinal herbs much easier.

Since I wasn’t an expert, asking the gallery about each and every plant had been exhausting.

’Still, I should probably ask the gallery how this ability works.’

I gave Ludwig a rough explanation.

After hearing it, he looked mildly surprised, as though he had never heard of such a thing.

At this point, another question occurred to me.

What about the mithril that had been judged to be alive?

Would it glitter like gold dust too?

Curious, I headed toward the back of the cave.

Flash! Flash!

The mithril wasn’t merely glowing.

It was flashing so brightly that it hurt my eyes.

The light came from deep within the cave, and something about it made me even more reluctant to approach.

I had a feeling that trying to mine it would only bring me trouble.

It felt even more unsettling now.

’Still, it can’t hurt me if I leave it alone...’

The discovery left a bitter taste in my mouth, but it seemed I would need to regularly explore the area around the cave from now on.

There was a limit to how many Fasting Pills I could make using only the medicinal herbs Father Raccoon brought me.

For now, I decided to explore alone and test the ability.

I didn’t forget to bring Fast Sloth with me, just in case.

’That thing is glowing almost as brightly as the mithril.’

It was the sapling Let’sGrowTrees had given me.

All the other plants grew quickly, but that one alone continued to develop at a slow pace.

Had they truly given me a World Tree sapling?

It was becoming increasingly difficult not to suspect it.

’I heard fully grown World Trees are larger than most villages. Does it even have enough space to grow?’

If it reached that size, it would destroy the entire shelter.

I dismissed the useless thought and explored the area around the cave.

Surprisingly, it was difficult to find anything that glowed.

That was probably because most of the vegetation consisted of ordinary weeds.

’What exactly determines whether something glows? Does it have to be at least as valuable as an inner core?’

There was a lot to consider.

After briefly looking around, I returned to the cave.

Once I got back, I finished preparing for our journey to the Orichalcum Cave.

I intended to determine whether the light from my eyes was a passive or active ability.

Naturally, everyone would be coming with us.

Leaving only a few behind might be more dangerous than taking the entire group.

’Even if someone raids the shelter, the only thing they can steal is food.’

And so, everyone at the shelter set out for the Orichalcum Cave.

Ludwig rode on Largo and quietly followed behind me.

’I should install a saddle for him later.’

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

Even while heading toward the cave, I gathered every glowing medicinal herb I encountered.

Then, partway through the journey, I spotted something shining underground.

Could it be an expensive mineral?

Without delay, I took out my shovel and pickaxe.

"Mr. Ludwig, there’s something down here. Let’s start digging."

"Hmm."

Following my instructions, Ludwig began shoveling diligently.

I broke apart the hard ground with the pickaxe, while Ludwig scooped away the loose soil with his shovel.

After repeating the process, we gradually approached the glowing object.

Ruuuuumble!

Without warning, the entire ground began to shake.

Ludwig and I immediately stopped working.

Judging from everything I had experienced until now, earthquakes were rarely a good sign.

And sure enough—

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

Something began surging out of the ground.

We hurriedly retreated from the rapidly rising earth.

At last, the majestic figure revealed itself.

"A-A Guardian...?"

It was a Guardian—a golem made entirely of earth.

Sparkle! Sparkle!

The core embedded in the Guardian’s chest was shining brilliantly.

"#%%#$?"

Ludwig asked what the hell I had done.

I couldn’t give him an answer.