Chương 103: The Mother Lode

Forged using the Faunite Crystal and iron Ore, the pickaxe was very effective. Instead of a half-dozen hits, it needed only two hits to break free the rock. Seeing this, Arthur commanded Ortiz to forge a dozen more. After around four hours of continuous mining, they collected around 40 Faunite Crystals. The yield of the crystals was not constant. If one were to mine a specific square meter of space, for example, they would not find a fixed amount of crystals in that area.

It was very random; in some places, one could find a multiple yield of crystals, while in other places, the space would be empty even after breaking free a large amount of rock. Consequently, one could not concretely tell how much more crystal would be available in a particular chamber. Furthermore, they had not yet reached a place where the crystals stopped yielding. The area continuously gave crystals. But that was not enough for his grand plan.

First of all, he needed to hire a Skeleton with abilities that could be used to detect the Faunite Crystal spots. Roaming for almost four hours, the Zero Skeleton covered all the routes that this ant colony possessed, but it found no other Faunite Crystal Chambers. This meant the ants only mined from these three chambers, and there were no more existing chambers. Due to this, he would have to take the initiative to find more places on his own.

Relying on his previous knowledge regarding how much crystal was needed to hire a Master Status Skeleton, Arthur calculated the cost. It would require at least double that amount, which was 40 crystals, to hire a Grand Master Skeleton.

[Worker Status] Name: Mayo Designation: Prospector Specialist: Mineral Detection Professional Status: Grand Master Monthly Maintenance Cost: 102, 000 Credits Contract Payment: Faunite Crystal Willing the contract, Arthur placed 40 crystals in front of him; unfortunately, nothing happened. Disappointed, they went back to mine more crystals, gathered some, and tried again, but nothing happened. This process continued until the number of crystals lying before him reached 60, and finally, the contract succeeded.

[Contract Payment Successful] If his assumption was correct, he might need a total of 160 Faunite Crystals to hire a Great Grand Master. This was not a huge deal, as long as Mayo found a few more mining spots. Immediately, Arthur summoned the skeleton. Stepping forward, the Mayo Skeleton possessed a tall and mysterious look. It had donned a tattered, old cloak, holding a staff equipment in its hand where a mysterious crystal was embedded.

Surprisingly, it wore a big backpack on its back containing a lot of spiral papers, and on its hip hung a lot of pouches holding small, mysterious equipment whose usage Arthur was not aware of. Similar to the Repp Skeleton, this Mayo also wore different kinds of gem rings on its bony fingers, and a medallion that looked like a compass hung on its neck. Upon seeing the Mayo Skeleton, Arthur could not describe it, but he felt like this skeleton gave off a very capable energy.

It felt capable of doing a given task without fail. Perhaps that feeling came from all the extra equipment it came with; he did not know. However, spending 60 Faunite Crystals seemed worth it. Taking a close look, Arthur walked around it. He felt a little reluctant doing so, since Mayo did not look like a skeleton, but rather some elder. It gave the same vibe as a wise elder in the family. Once he finished his inspection, he checked the abilities. A Grand Master came with a total of nine Abilities.

[Grand Mineral Sense] was the must-needed ability for his current needs, where he needed to find the deposits of the crystal through different layers of rocks and other materials. Other than this ability, [Yield Projection] would be of big use, as he could easily find how much more Crystal this chamber would yield.

"A perfect ability." Arthur was filled with great joy. Coupled with [Interference Nullification] and [Hidden Deposit Detection], these abilities could also be used to find minerals hidden in the ground. Aside from these, [Surface Trace Tracking] would also be very useful. Whenever Mayo found a small trace of a mineral, it could trace the path back to its deposit. It was another great ability.

Next was [Growth Cycle Read], which would be of much use if he owned his own mine, a feat he would achieve once he completed the First Quest. Using this ability, he could easily find out how often the mine would refresh the minerals. Although the next two abilities were not of much use currently, they overall added a lot of advantage and variety to his skeleton. Utilizing [Geological Memory], Mayo could save previously analyzed terrain and use it to compare with new terrain.

Through pattern detection, it could easily find minerals quickly instead of working from the beginning. The [Ore Purity Analysis] ability was useful, but he already had the General Appraisal Skeleton, Zero, to do the job. However, Arthur could not underestimate a Grand Master ability when compared to a Beginner Skeleton's ability. Finally, Mayo came with the ability to scan a large range of terrain.

Activating [Grand Survey], it could scan up to a 2-kilometer radius in all directions to detect major underground deposits, such as waterways, mineral deposits, and other materials found in the ground. The only disadvantage was that the skeleton had to remain stationary for one hour to complete the full map of the 2-kilometer range. Overall, Arthur was satisfied with all the abilities. Mayo was a great addition to the team, and its skills formed the foundation of his future ambitions.

Without Mayo's abilities, he would never find Faunite Crystals in a short time, and everything would fall apart. Thus, the skeleton was going to play an important role that would shape his future. Picking up a crystal, Arthur handed it over to Mayo. The skeleton did not take the crystal. Instead, it simply scanned the item with its staff, causing the embedded gem to flash over the Faunite Crystal. Guessing that the information had already reached the skeleton, Arthur gave a command regarding what to do next.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Although he was tempted to use [Grand Survey] to scan the entire quarry to find out how many Faunite Crystals Chamber he could potentially mine, he decided to hold off. First, he wanted to check the current chamber he was mining to see how much more yield it would give. Quickly, he commanded Mayo to check the amount of Faunite Crystals remaining.

Upon receiving the command, Mayo walked near the stone wall and hoisted its staff. In the next second, the gem on the staff lit up brightly to scan the whole chamber. Arthur waited in anticipation, recalling the description of the ability. Once the scan was completed, it would list the result. A total of five tiers existed to indicate the amount of crystal deposits in this place. The lowest tier was [Trace], followed by [Minor], [Moderate], [Rich], and finally, [Mother Lode].

Arthur's heart beat with expectation; the result simply had to be a Mother Lode, or at least Rich or Moderate. However, based on the amount of crystals he had been mining so far, the tier would likely come out as Minor, since a very low yield had been occurring. Still, his heart yearned for a higher tier just in case. Holding the staff forward, the skeleton continued its scan. After about a minute, it lowered its staff and stood still, as if it was processing the result. Thudum! Thudum!

Arthur's heart beat heavily against his chest. Beside him, the other two skeletons, Cross and Gerard, stood still, not reacting to anything that was happening. After taking another 10 seconds, the result finally appeared Infront of Arthur. [Faunite Crystal Deposit Analysis Complete.] [Tier: Mother Lode] [Estimated Recoverable Faunite Crystal: 1, 842 - 2, 160] Staring at the text, Arthur saw that the tier clearly displayed [Mother Lode], which was the highest.

However, the estimated amount of Faunite Crystals was only around 1, 800 to 2100. That was not the number he expected to accompany the highest tier; rather, such an amount should have come with the [Moderate] tier. However, he slowly realized the truth. The Faunite Crystal was a super rare crystal. It was highly expensive and highly vied by the Notebook. Since just the Elixir could sell for up to 7, 500, 000 Credits, one could easily imagine its rarity.

Therefore, an amount of 2100 was already huge, making it justifiable that this yield was classified under the [Mother Lode] tier. Mayo evaluated the tier based on material rarity. If he were to ask for a [Yield Projection] assessment on Iron Ore, the tier might come out as [Moderate], and the estimated amount could reach into the tens of thousands, such as 50, 000.

Because Iron Ore's rarity was extremely low compared to the Faunite Crystal, even 50, 000 ores would only be considered a [Moderate] tier, not a [Mother Lode]. Nodding his head with a better understanding, Arthur could now mine with a clear target in mind instead of mining with frustration over the low yield. Now that he had the total amount in mind, he could swing his pickaxe without any issues.

He quickly ordered the Mining Skeleton to continue mining, simultaneously commanding Mayo to roam around the colony and find more Faunite Crystal mining locations. Upon receiving the command, it exited the mining chamber and walked through tunnel. Joining the other skeletons to mine, Arthur's mind rapidly formulated a plan. Now that he knew the clear picture, he had to hire plenty of Miner Skeletons to accelerate the mining process.

Using only two skeletons in each chamber would take a long time to achieve what he had aimed for. Standing at the edge of the forest, Susanne gazed at the vast wasteland in front of her. After she met with the elder and understood the implications of being their Hero, she left the colony. She traveled for almost half a day through the dense forest to reach its end. However, the strange thing was that the forest abruptly ended, starting immediately as a ruined wasteland.

It was as if the forest was abolished up to this point and stopped. Turning around, she looked at the Ratkin people. They stood away from the wasteland's border, acting as if they were afraid to enter. When she had met the elder, she tried to ask a few questions to broaden her knowledge about what they were and where this deity with a crown resided. For that question, she received a very limited answer: she had to cross the wasteland.

However, they could not accompany her, since their ancestors told them not to step into that land. If they did, they would be detected by this person and made into slaves. Now, her question was how she was supposed to find this deity in this vast wasteland. But now that she thought about it, there was no time limit to finish the Trial. However, that did not mean she could walk around blindly. Giving a big sigh, Susanne turned back to the wasteland and took a step forward.

She had to start somewhere at some time, so why not now? The group of Ratkins stood at the same place until she disappeared into the wasteland.

"Do you think she was the Hero that was mentioned in the Bark Drawing?" one of the Ratkins asked.

"What are you talking about? She was the one. I saw with my own eyes that she stepped out of the ancient Gazebo and used fire to attack Burt," the Ratkin who brought Susanne said as he patted the big Rat standing beside him.

"No, no, I also believe it. It is just that she looked very weak," the Ratkin said with a low voice. Hearing this, the Ratkin who brought Susanne touched the spot where the Fireball attack had landed on the big rat. There was no damage at that spot. Suddenly, a nagging feeling appeared in his mind as his eyes gazed in the direction Susanne had walked. Meanwhile, Susanne walked in a straight line, or at least that was her intention.

The land was covered in big tree stumps and large holes, appearing as if the trees had been cut off or plucked out along with their roots. With very little greenery growing on the land, but she walked in a constant state of alert. Based on what she knew from the Ratkin people, they had never seen any monsters around the border of this wasteland. Thus, there were chances that no monsters lived in this wasteland. However, it would not hurt to be alert against danger.

Keeping herself alert to any incoming dangers or attacks, she continued walking. Suddenly, she heard a rustling sound on the ground; something was moving toward her. Instantly manifesting a Fireball, she readied herself to attack the moment she spotted the enemy. As her eyes scanned the area, she suddenly saw something move in front of her, crossing past with blinding speed. She was about to throw the attack, but whatever it was moved too quickly; she could not even register what it was.

The only thing she could be happy about in this situation was that the entity was small in size. With the rustling sound continuing in all directions around her, Susanne raised her concentration to 100%. If she got even a small chance to attack, she would do it.

"What are you looking at?" Suddenly, Susanne heard a voice come from above, originating directly from the top of her head.

"Ohhh!" Startled by this sudden voice and the presence on her head, Susanne panicked. Moving away, she flailed her arms wildly. However, there was nothing on her head. But before she could even relax, she heard the same voice coming from her right shoulder.

"Don't panic, stranger," the voice said. Susanne, however, could not control her panic. Reacting similarly, she tried to remove whatever was on her shoulder. Once again, nothing was there. Startled by this voice and unable to find its source, she brought her two palms together. Instantly, she manifested a big Fireball, trying to incinerate her surroundings.

"Whooo, a flashy fire." While she was readying herself, Susanne heard the voice again. This time, it came from a nearby tree stump. Turning her head to see what it was and she readied her attack. However, what she saw on that tree stump made her jump in shock.