Amber Sword-Chapter 594: Scene 46 Silver Mine (7) (second watch, seeking support, will die without support)
Cold Iron Ore is a highly valuable mineral. According to past game terminology, once Cold Iron is incorporated into a metal weapon, it proportionally increases the damage against monsters.
A pure Cold Iron longsword causes double the damage to monsters compared to an ordinary longsword.
In any country within the Vorn World, they have to deal with the trouble of monsters for long periods, so the demand for Cold Iron is immense. However, this ore only exists as an associated mineral in Silver Mines, Copper Mines, and some Crystal Ore, making it highly scarce.
On the market, Cold Iron’s value is almost equivalent to that of Gold by weight, but Cold Iron is much denser than Gold, so it’s precious as if it were gold.
When Brand mentioned there was Cold Iron here, it naturally drew the attention of these youths. If they could mine Cold Iron and then secretly transport some of these ores out to find an appropriate buyer, it would be an unimaginable fortune.
Of course, the reality is that people like them often have some ins to do a bit of sneaky work. As for the mining area, it’s not that they don’t know, but they just couldn’t be bothered to check for the small quantities.
Upon hearing the girl’s question, Brand looked at them, thinking it wasn’t a bad idea to win over people with little favors, as he might need their help. So he pointed to the slanted pattern of the rock wall and replied, "Dig along these, but I can’t guarantee you’ll find anything. However, there’s definitely a rich ore layer behind it."
Kevan nodded, and under his indication, Maher indeed picked up the cross pickaxe and started digging in that direction. Then the others also joined in one after another.
Brand himself did not intend to mine; instead, he turned around and glanced at the other end of the tunnel—a pitch-black tunnel that extended to the end of the light. "Where does that lead?" he asked, looking back.
"There’s another layer below," Kevan answered. Due to his physical condition, he was not working, but it seemed the others didn’t mind—Brand even saw someone share a portion of the mined ores next to this weak-looking boy. "But that layer has been abandoned."
Brand certainly knew why the lower layer had been abandoned. The boy mentioned last night that it was due to breaking through to the passage leading to the big beehive during initial mining, causing monsters to surge out. It took a tremendous effort to drive them back, and since then, no one dared to go to the lowest layer of the mining area.
After listening to Kevan, Brand glanced in that direction and straightforwardly started walking towards the depths of the tunnel.
"Wait," Kevan called out to him. "Sir, it’s best if you wait a moment before going."
Brand stopped.
"Why?"
"The overseer will come to inspect soon. It’s better if you go after he leaves," the boy replied.
"When will he come?"
"In a quarter of an hour, sometimes half an hour."
Brand frowned slightly. "Will he come again after that?"
"Yes, the overseer comes every few hours, but the exact time is hard to predict."
"A few hours, that seems enough—" Brand thought, then nodded and replied, "Thanks," thinking at the same time that this is the benefit of winning people over.
He picked up the cross pickaxe and casually tapped on the rock wall. Under the power of the Golden Domain, the rocks came tumbling down like a landslide. But what truly amazed Joka, Maher, and the others was Brand’s adept technique; the pickaxe followed the vein of the ore almost precisely, without any deviation—
The outer layer of low-quality Silver Ore slid down to Brand’s feet. He idly pushed it aside, initially showing some interest, but soon he decided to sit back and listen to the clinking sounds of the cross pickaxe.
Maher and the others dug quickly. The pale purple rock wall was soon stripped away, revealing a layer of grey rock behind it. At this point, Brand signaled them to stop, then had Joka pry off a small piece of the rock and toss it over. He picked it up, examined it for a while, and then raised it to show the others.
"This is Diagonal Quartz. Keep digging down!"
"Does that mean we’ve got it?" Kevan asked from the side.
Brand nodded.
The youths’ faces showed faint excitement. If they wanted to go out into the world, they naturally needed a large sum of money, and now seemed to be a chance to strike it rich.
The speed of pickaxe strikes increased, the clinking sounds unceasing. Brand saw the youths tossing aside the unnecessary rocks one by one, some rolling to his feet. Looking closely, he noticed the quality of the Diagonal Quartz was improving.
