Free Web NovelChapter 2039: An Interesting Ore
A/N: Thank you for reading this far, everyoneeee! HUGS! Special hugs, as always, to the lovelies who sent tickets, gifts, votes, comments, and reviews!
Btwbtw, if you have extra tickets, do send some our wayy~ Hoping not to drop out of the golden T10 rankings! If it drops, this would be the first time in 2 years T_T
...
___
"Will there be a water source?" Garan asked, staring at the stalactites. He knew how they were formed, so he wondered about it.
Althea and Medusa shook their heads. "Not necessarily."
This was arid land, but while the presence of stalactite indicated that there was a water source nearby at some point, it didn’t mean there was now.
However, there might be one somewhere if they dug deep enough. Even if they wouldn’t dare drink it, they could use it against the Undead.
While Althea went to the side to continue her scanning, the rest of them went to study the cave. Medusa had her portable lab, Labi, out of her space to check the compounds in the cave.
Her Labi, developed in Alterra and recently given to her, occupied her entire space, so the rest of her supplies were in Sinnan’s space. Althea went to observe the place along with the men.
The cave’s open space was not too big, probably just a bit bigger than a basketball court. The height varied a lot, but the highest ceiling point was about two storeys.
Garan and Sinnan checked every nook and cranny for anything unusual, finding some natural air inlets.
Althea first inspected an area with abundant stalactites, and it worked as normal. When she scanned further, touching the earthen walls directly, she realized that the anomaly was underneath the walls.
On cue, Medusa announced the readings in her machine. "The stalactites are composed of calcite," she said. "Nothing is unusual here." This was, of course, considering the compounds common in this world.
She then also confirmed that the level of carbon dioxide in the cave was indeed denser than outside, but nothing dangerous was there either.
They found no unusual compounds, and even found some areas with oxygen coming in, confirming the area was not so isolated, and they could finally take away their uncomfortable suits.
Now that they had used it for hours, they had plenty of points of improvement to send back when they got home. Fortunately, some special stretchable and breathable synthetic fabrics were being developed in Alterra now. This was something not even the three major cloth cities had.
Anyway, at their levels, staying inside for a few hours was no problem even without their suits.
The group comfortably stretched their arms after freeing themselves from the suits. freeweɓnovel.cøm
"That had been a stifling few hours," Sinnan said, rotating his arms to stretch. He made a sour face when the odd stench of the cave hit his face. "The smell isn’t very good, though."
"I definitely won’t be able to eat here."
"We’ll just have to focus on mining in the future," Garan told him. "Many Terran men experienced mining in this place. It seems like I am the same."
Sinnan also couldn’t help but feel a bit melancholic. "In the desert, one of the most realistic resources to hope for would be in caves and underground tunnels."
After all, the desert didn’t have much verdant land to find plant resources. Their main hope for money would be minerals and the like.
"In Dune Town, we had yet to find a resource point. It’s interesting that I am experiencing it now." They had petrol, but that was pretty much found in ponds. They didn’t have to mine for them.
Many desert children would play around and dig through the sand, and fantasize about finding a ’resource point’ somewhere.
Sand digging was one of the popular games among kids. The deeper the hole they could dig, the better they were at the game. Of course, oftentimes, nothing was found, but games were rarely ever practical.
If the children found the rock underneath the sand, then it would be a common playground too. The rocks taken out would likely become toys or collectibles for the children.
Sinnan himself, when he was young, had a collection of such rocks.
"Men, can you help me chip away a layer of rock here?" Althea’s voice echoed within the cave, making the two men turn their heads in her direction. She was patting a relatively empty wall.
They nodded and started to work on the wall, their elemental-enhanced pickaxes ready.
Clack! Clack! CLACK!
It took them half an hour to dig through the wall and to the layer Althea wanted. They knew that they had reached the layer without Althea saying so because the layer was a bit more difficult to pry.
They continued to dig until they had a tiny hill of ores, but the two level 30s were drenched in sweat, indicative that this item was not so easy to mine.
"Let’s have a meal above after this," she said, and everyone nodded unanimously.
They hadn’t eaten since entering the cave, so they were getting hungry. The place was also stuffy and staying long-term might not be dangerous for them, but it was definitely uncomfortable.
Hence, the group was determined to just take away the samples they had now and then head up afterwards. Althea and Medusa could study whatever they want to study above ground.
Garan and Sinnan chipped away a few pieces of varying sizes, giving them to Althea, and then they headed up together after taking detailed photos of the cave.
Since the path was now clear and there was no more digging involved, they reached the surface cave in about twenty minutes. Garan immediately set up his cooking station with Sinnan helping out. Meanwhile, the ladies immediately began to study the rocks.
In terms of composition, it was a type of metal, but not one they had seen before. It didn’t have a parallel to Terran metals either. At best, it had some similarities to silver, but very little. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Whenever they found unfamiliar local elements or compounds, Alterrans generally try to compare with the things they knew and work from there. It was better than starting from scratch, after all.
This time, they were pretty much starting from scratch.
Althea curiously grabbed a stone and scanned it with her element.
It was the material she had encountered during the initial scan. There was a bit of resistance at first, like something was blocking her power, but then when she pierced through a layer, it was like even the slightest friction disappeared.
Her eyes widened as she felt a sort of resonance.
Suddenly, her earth ’scan’ could see much farther than before.
The metal itself didn’t have any sort of ’power’ hidden in it, so there was nothing too miraculous like amplifying someone’s elemental power. It functioned more like it could allow people to tap into the ’aether’ in the air much more clearly.
This meant that even if it didn’t enhance the attacks, it seemed to expand the scope of certain abilities, including the scan. As for other applications, it was something to look forward to.
As a metaphor, it was like giving glasses to someone with imperfect vision.
Her eyes brightened. They seemed to have found a very good thing!
