Chapter 1436: Crude Mithril Refining, Strategic Reserves

After returning to the Tower of Time, Niya and Xia Duo came to the laboratory together; she was also very eager to know whether what she had discovered was truly a Mithril Mine.

However, after taking out the stone sample, Xia Duo did not continue, but instead asked Niya, "Will you do it, or shall I?"

"I'll do it!"

Almost without any hesitation, Niya agreed; with such an opportunity for personal verification, how could she miss it!

As for the verification method, if it were in the past, it might have been quite troublesome, but now, Xia Duo had long since purchased the Mithril Refining method from the Seventon Council; as long as one refined it, it would be very easy to obtain the result.

Under Xia Duo's gaze, Niya first cast a Protective Spell specifically against heat on herself, then skillfully activated the Alchemy Array, and tossed a pile of silver ingots sent over by the Tower Spirit into the Alchemy Array.

Unlike large-scale refining which might require building smelting furnaces, using an Alchemy Array was sufficient for small-scale refining.

Furthermore, compared to ordinary furnaces, the Alchemy Array could more stably and easily keep the pure silver in a molten, boiling state at all times.

In the blink of an eye, the silver ingots in the Levitation Field above the Alchemy Array began to glow red and soften, and a moment later, they completely turned into a mass of liquid shimmering with red light.

Soon, this molten pure silver liquid began to boil, and then Niya dropped the stone sample Xia Duo had retrieved into it.

Next was the time for waiting.

The boiling liquid pure silver would gradually soak into the sample; if it contained Mithril, it would form a 【Pure Silver-Mithral】 clump, and if not, then naturally there would be no such easily identifiable special clump.

During the waiting time, Niya asked Xia Duo: "If it is confirmed to be Mithril, what do you plan to do?"

"Of course, act as if nothing happened!" Xia Duo gave this answer directly.

"Why? Wasn't it said that before the Northland Alliance was established, the Mithril Agreement between Netheril, Yierlan, and Danzo had already been re-signed? In the future, the Mithril Mines we discover won't need to be handed over to Danzo to operate anymore!"

"It's not because of that; do you remember Rodney Lord?"

"Rodney Lord?"

Although the two sides were no longer hostile and were even allies to a certain extent, Niya still did not have much of a pleasant expression on her face.

Who could blame her when Rodney Lord had come and immediately wanted to stake out claims in the Green Pearl Forest, which the Saville Family had been tending for decades! Anyone would have thoughts about that.

And Xia Duo understood even better that although Rodney Lord had given up for now, once the Mithril Mine was exposed, who knew if he would pop up again—and of course, he certainly wouldn't be the only one coming.

By then, the Green Pearl Forest would inevitably be pushed to the forefront, and trouble would follow one after another.

One must know that whether it was Savile Territory or Daxia Territory, legally they only occupied the explored areas; no matter how much the Saville Family had contributed to the Green Pearl Forest, as long as it hadn't been explored, it didn't count as occupied.

Now, Pioneer Orders were particularly easy to apply for; as long as a lord from the Inner Land applied for a Pioneer Order, they could come to the Green Pearl Forest and stake out land.

They might even directly occupy the discovered Mithril Mine, and it would be difficult for Xia Duo to make much of a response; at most, he could retain partial ownership, but it would be impossible to keep it all.

Of course, that wasn't the main point; a mere Mithril Mine could be discarded if necessary, but the key was that this would disrupt Xia Duo's development plan for Nan Jing.

If the surroundings of Daxia Territory were all occupied by outsiders, then how could he develop? Did he really have to move everything to a Floating City?

Not to mention that with so many outsiders, countless eyes were fixed on Nan Jing, and he would be tied hand and foot in whatever he wanted to do; Xia Duo hadn't forgotten that there was still a ticking time bomb within the territory!

Who knew when Yatewude's mastery of the new Natural Holy Power would be discovered by the Elven main gods, and then a divine war would be triggered directly—that would be too unlucky.

"So, regardless of whether it's a Mithril Mine or not, we cannot make it public; just act as if this matter never happened!"

"If it really is a Mithril Mine, are we just going to give it up?"

"How could that be! It just means there's no need to rush to develop it now. Although the Tower of Time lacks Mithril, it's more of a lack of long-term strategic reserves; daily usage is still quite abundant," Xia Duo said with a smile.

Currently, the Tower of Time could still buy Mithril from the outside, especially now after the Tri-Nation Mithral Agreement had been updated; Mithril control was almost nominal, and as long as one had money, one could buy almost as much as one wanted.

Who said that mineral deposits must be developed immediately!

Knowing it's there is enough; use others' first, and keep one's own as a strategic reserve. In case one day supplies cannot be obtained from the outside, those mineral deposits will be the best trump card.

However, on the surface, maintaining a certain mining foundation was also very important, at least to sustain a group of mining experts who could serve as instructors at critical moments.

"Only the weak points of the ley lines have been explored near the territory. Later, just have the Task Management Office issue a task to search for mineral veins. We can't develop the mines in the Green Pearl Forest right now, but those near our own territory are fine."

"Alright, I will arrange it."

Xia Duo could hear that Niya's mood was still a bit low, but he couldn't think of any comforting words, so he just reminded her: "Time is almost up, let's check the reaction result."

"Oh, almost forgot."

Mentioning sample testing, Niya immediately perked up; she deftly picked out a pile of solid residue from the pure silver liquid, and then directly used the Alchemy Array to cool it down rapidly.

After carefully picking through it, a smile finally blossomed on Niya's face; she pinched a small piece of black solid, held it up in front of Xia Duo, and said excitedly:

"Look, is this a 【Pure Silver-Mithral】 clump?"

Although it was a question, it revealed an incomparably certain tone.

Xia Duo took the small piece of black solid from Niya's hand, and after a brief inspection, he confirmed that it was undoubtedly a 【Pure Silver-Mithral】 clump.

Afterward, one only needed to smelt it separately, control the temperature well, and filter out the pure silver liquid to obtain refined Mithril.

"It is Mithril!" Xia Duo said calmly.

But he could not hide the joy in his tone; being able to discover one Mithril vein in the Green Pearl Forest meant it was possible to discover a second, a third, or even more!

Come to think of it, this Green Pearl Forest was truly a treasure land; besides the forest itself, the Mythallar ruins, the Sarrukh Mage-Serpent ruins, and the Mithril Mine had been discovered one after another.

Of course, if one also counted that Totem Pole Saville left on Wolf God Mountain, there were even more treasures!

So, what else could be discovered next?

Xia Duo looked forward to it.

……

After confirming that a Mithril vein indeed existed in the Green Pearl Forest, Xia Duo worked almost through the night to produce several Mithral Ore Detectors.

Unlike the 【Ley Line Detector】 of the Drow which could only rely on the user's own judgment, the Mithral Ore Detector Xia Duo made integrated the echo feedback characteristic model of Mithril veins that he had summarized.