Chapter Eleven: The Extraordinary Efficiency of the Angry Tiger Model 1 Floating Land Mining Vehicle
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About half an hour later, the onboard intelligence of the Fury Tiger mining vehicle spoke again.
“Radiation consistent with mithril ore has been detected in the fragment at coordinates XXXXX on the left. Preliminary estimates place the amount at more than ten tons.”
Song Chi was about to ignore it on instinct, but then he realized what he had heard.
“Mithril? More than ten tons?”
If he remembered correctly, mithril was even more valuable than adamantine. Adamantine averaged around one wisp of zero-order floating-land origin per ton, whereas a single ton of mithril could fetch as much as five wisps of zero-order floating-land origin.
If there really were more than ten tons of mithril, it was absolutely worth mining. No one should underestimate fifty wisps of zero-order floating-land origin.
The reason Song Chi had been able to possess a thousand wisps as his starting capital was that both of his parents were Sparkfire captains. For an ordinary Sparkfire starship that had only recently awakened, the gains from a single expedition into an alien starfield usually amounted to around one hundred wisps of zero-order floating-land origin. The fifty wisps before him already represented half of that.
Without further hesitation, he turned the Firmament to the left and carefully headed toward the coordinates of the small fragment where the suspected mithril deposit lay.
Song Chi was in no hurry. As he advanced, he continued to check the radar display at all times.
After his Guidance Art had reached Level Four, the benefits it brought him were not limited to an enhanced physique. The strengthening of his mind was no less impressive. Simply dividing his attention between two tasks was effortless. It was said that once the Guidance Art reached an extremely high level, one could split one’s attention ten ways—or even more—without difficulty.
The standard void patrol radar could not detect fluctuations in life force. However, if a high-level astral sea creature were charging at full speed, or if a special warship belonging to an astral-sea alien civilization approached, the patrol radar could still detect it.
That said, the odds of encountering a high-level astral sea creature or a high-ranking alien civilization during the first wave of benefits were exceedingly small. No other accidents occurred, and the Firmament soon arrived at the target fragment.
It was a small fragment several dozen meters long, with a volume far greater than that of the Firmament. Song Chi did not immediately release the mining vehicle. Instead, he had the Firmament circle the surrounding area once, thoroughly ruling out any danger before landing the shuttle on the target fragment.
After that, there was nothing left for him to do. The onboard intelligence of the Fury Tiger Type-I floating-land mining vehicle automatically guided it out of the Firmament’s hold. Once it reached the location with the strongest radiation, it unfolded its equipment and began mining on its own.
Inside the Firmament, Song Chi waited in silence. His face appeared expressionless, but inwardly he was quite satisfied. The Fury Tiger mining vehicle was undeniably expensive, but its efficiency was truly impressive.
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Had another recently awakened Sparkfire captain mined the ten tons of mithril by hand, it would have taken at least five hours. At the Fury Tiger’s current efficiency, however, the entire job would take no more than forty minutes.
As it turned out, Song Chi’s estimate had been correct. Thirty-five minutes later, the Fury Tiger Type-I floating-land mining vehicle returned to the Firmament’s hold carrying ten tons of mithril—less than forty minutes in total.
Song Chi immediately made a trip to the Myriad Heavens Ruins Market, piled all ten tons of mithril in an empty area there, and then resumed his exploration.
Two hours later.
The Firmament was still moving slowly through the fragment belt. Since finding the ten tons of mithril, he had not detected anything worth taking action over a second time. Either the value was too low or the quantity was insufficient.
The more than eight tons of raw adamantine ore detected by the prospector earlier, however, had tempted him somewhat. Although some of it would be lost during refining, it should still sell for five or six wisps of zero-order floating-land origin. Even a mosquito’s leg was meat; that was better than continuing to wander aimlessly.
As he wrestled with the decision, the mining vehicle’s onboard intelligence issued another warning.
“A region of moderate purple-copper radiation has been detected. Conservative estimates place the purple-copper reserves at more than five hundred tons. Fragment coordinates: XXXXX.”
Song Chi raised an eyebrow and quickly snapped out of his indecision. Detailed information about purple copper surfaced in his mind.
Purple copper was a low-grade metallic resource. Its market price was usually around five tons for one wisp of zero-order floating-land origin, making it decidedly unprofitable.
That was true enough—but there was strength in numbers. With a conservative estimate of more than five hundred tons, mining the entire deposit would yield at least one hundred wisps of zero-order floating-land origin.
If another low-grade Sparkfire starship encountered it, its captain probably would not bother. Quite apart from whether they happened to have a Fury Tiger mining vehicle with them, even if they mined the entire deposit, transporting hundreds of tons of purple copper back would be a serious problem.
Song Chi was different. With the Myriad Heavens Ruins Market and a Fury Tiger Type-I floating-land mining vehicle at his disposal, he was determined to claim those hundreds of tons of purple copper.
He acted at once. As before, after reaching the target fragment, he first made a complete circuit to ensure there was no danger. Only then did he release the mining vehicle and let it begin its work.
Mining several hundred tons of purple copper would not be difficult, but it clearly could not be completed in a short time. To avoid wasting the interval, Song Chi unloaded the dedicated prospector from the mining vehicle once more.
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He intended to use the time while the mining vehicle worked to survey the surrounding area. That way, as soon as the Fury Tiger finished extracting this batch of purple copper, it could immediately begin its next assignment.
Although removing the prospector would reduce the Fury Tiger’s mining speed to a certain extent, separating the two operations for a while was still more cost-effective overall.
Before leaving, Song Chi remained uneasy and left three Fire Sunflower Soldier Puppets behind, ordering them to guard the fragment. This was to prevent the considerable disturbance caused by the Fury Tiger’s operations from attracting the attention of unknown creatures.
Several hours later, hundreds of kilometers from the fragment where the Fury Tiger was working, the Firmament’s speed slowed slightly. Another alert came from the prospector.
Because the vehicle no longer had its onboard intelligence to issue proactive warnings, Song Chi could only leave the cockpit and inspect the device himself.
“Mercury crystal, ten kilograms. This is even more valuable than mithril, but the quantity is far too small. It isn’t worth mining.”
At that moment, the patrol radar on the control console behind him suddenly erupted with a series of alarms. Song Chi reacted instantly, returning to the pilot’s station at top speed as his gaze swept back and forth between the radar display and the projection screen.
He quickly identified the source of the alarm. On the radar display, several thousand kilometers away, hundreds of fragments that had previously been completely stationary were shifting noticeably, almost simultaneously.
Clearly, something was wrong. Otherwise, the patrol radar would not have sounded an alarm.
Song Chi narrowed his eyes, his expression grave. To cause such a disturbance, whatever was happening clearly could not be the result of a zero-order energy fluctuation.
At that thought, he instinctively drew his neck in, unwilling to go over and get involved.
P.S. I did not make this week’s recommendation list, so I have to wait until next week. That means there will only be one update today.
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