Chapter 63 - Orichalcum (2)

Throughout the ages, humanity had obtained countless resources from nature. Wood, water, stone, animals, plants, soil, minerals—the list went on. There was nothing that had not come from nature.

If wood was the alpha and omega of human civilization, minerals were the resources that made humanity wealthier and stronger. From iron, commonly used in weapons, to luxuries such as diamonds and gold, minerals had contributed enormously to the advancement of civilization, even if wood overshadowed them.

As technology advanced, new uses were discovered for previously useless minerals. Their potential only came to be valued more highly with time.

Guys, check this out lol

(A stock screen full of blue losses)

Is mining doing badly lately? What's going on here haha

└What the hell happened there lmao? Did something happen?

└I heard a rumor the mine tunnels collapsed?

└Why? Don't they build those things sturdy?

└An earth dragon showed up. The earthquake it caused brought them down.

└Holy shit...

What's with this little bastard...?

(A photo of a goblin wearing a diamond crown)

An abandoned mine turned into a goblin nest, so we went to clear it out, and one of them was wearing a diamond crown...

It's not like the goblins were mining. Where the hell did it come from?

└Found yourself a treasure goblin lmaooo

└What happens to the crown?

└Obviously the people who killed it keep it. That's the law.

└Imagine if it's fake lol

Mithril for sale.

(A photo of a rock painted green)

Selling mithril. It's real.

└At least put some effort into your scams...

└Lmaooo this is so pathetic I can't even

└How much? I'll give you 1 gold.

└It's 1,000 gold.

└Your conscience fucking died lmaooo

What DOESN'T Setan have?

They've got gold. Diamonds. Mana crystals. Coal. And everything else under the sun. What DON'T they dig up?

└All Hail the Sun: Mithril. Adamantium. Orichalcum. Ten-thousand-year cold iron. Water.

└Other countries don't have those either lmao

└If you had those too, that'd just be shameless lmaooo

└Did you add water out of a sense of shame?

└All Hail the Sun: No? I listed it because we really don't have it.

└Lmaoooo

As these posts showed, minerals were a frequent topic of conversation. Diamonds had been found in some mine, or a rare metal had been discovered somewhere. Directly or indirectly, minerals meant wealth—and a chance to turn your life around overnight.

Question about the world's top three metals

The world's top three metals are mithril, adamantium, and orichalcum, right?

Can finding even one of those make you rich for real?

└Did you find some?

└Nope. Going to.

└Let's talk after you find it.

└Okay...

└Aw, look how dejected they got lol

└Which one's the most expensive?

└All three are pretty close, but orichalcum's gotten fucking expensive lately.

└Why? Isn't orichalcum just a mineral that's sensitive to mana?

└That sensitivity keeps giving it more uses. You know broadcast magic? That uses orichalcum.

└Using such a rare mineral just for broadcast magic seems a bit...

└That's why there are substitutes, but the technology is one thing, and they still can't hold a candle to orichalcum.

└Doesn't orichalcum make the broadcast range crazy huge?

└Finding it is the problem.

└Heavenly Demon: How strange. Why is ten-thousand-year cold iron not on the list?

└Granny. Do you even know what mithril is?

└Heavenly Demon: I am not well versed in Western languages.

└Then do you know true silver?

└Heavenly Demon: Is that not a metal lighter than steel, yet as strong or stronger?

└Yep, that's it. Orichalcum is true gold, and adamantium is cold iron.

└Heavenly Demon: So, in the end, they are all inferior to ten-thousand-year cold iron.

└Forget it. I give up...

└This conversation is suffocating...

Mithril was much lighter than steel, yet just as strong or stronger. Adamantium weighed about the same as steel, but its strength was in a whole other league.

Finally, there was orichalcum. This mineral was something of a special case. It was weaker than iron, but had one very distinctive trait: sensitivity to mana. That alone might not have amounted to much, but the growing number of ways to exploit that sensitivity had made it even more precious.

Things you can do with orichalcum

Extend broadcast magic range. Extend communications range. Run air conditioning and heating indefinitely. Speed up airships. Etc.

Of course, you actually need orichalcum to do any of that.

└Isn't that material just broken as fuck?

└Not quite. There are substitutes. They're just fucking expensive to make.

└Basically, think of it as upgrading anything mana-related by several levels.

└So where do you get orichalcum?

└Somewhere with lots of mana lol

That more or less covered it. Quite a list. Reading the uses of orichalcum that someone had kindly explained to me, I had a thought.

'Is it like a superconductor?'

Or maybe it served roughly the same purpose as a semiconductor. But whereas semiconductors required various materials, orichalcum could do the job all by itself—and do it better, too. You could call it a nearly all-purpose material.

└Wild Grylls: Can I at least trade it for some candy?

└Passing Dwarf: Wanna trade it for my beer?

└Wild Grylls: Fuck off.

└Lmaooo harsh

└A dwarf is actually offering you beer...

└Is that really orichalcum?

└Wild Grylls: Dunno either. And it wasn't just these rocks. The whole cave was pretty much this color.

└??? The WHOLE cave?

└Come on, be realistic...

└I mean, there's a whole mature mandrake habitat there too...

└Unlike other minerals, orichalcum only needs abundant mana for that to be possible.

└Hurry up and show us.

└Wild Grylls: Not today. First, how do I prove this is orichalcum? Do I have to send it to someone?

└Passing Dwarf: Easiest way is to put mana in it. If it gets shinier, it's orichalcum.

└Wild Grylls: That's really simple. That's all?

└Passing Dwarf: You have to see how long the glow lasts. Twelve hours or more, and it's confirmed.

└Wild Grylls: In that case I'll just give it to you. You're not gonna infuse liquor with this stuff, right?

└Passing Dwarf: Are you fucking insane...?

I decided to give the suspected orichalcum rock to the dwarf. I had to trade with him soon anyway, and it wasn't as though I was about to start mining it with a pickaxe. All it meant was that I had something else to trade, like the mature mandrakes. Besides, it was a mineral rather than an herb—and a peculiar mineral at that—which made things a little tricky.

'Are the dwarf and Allfather the only two I can trade this with? All Hail the Sun seems interested too.'

Naturally, a rare mineral would be expensive. But I didn't need money. Wouldn't it be more useful to make weapons out of it instead? That thought raised a question, so I wrote a post.

What can you make out of orichalcum?

Wild Grylls

Can you make weapons and stuff?

└Most of it's magic-related, so probably nothing useful for you?

└Lots of uses in a city. Not so much out in the wild.

└If it were mithril, you could make armor or something, but it's orichalcum, so...

└Honestly, trading it for candy is your best bet.

└Wild Grylls: Tsk.

So it was just a solid lump of semiconductor. I smacked my lips in disappointment. I asked whether they could make a refrigerator or a washing machine with orichalcum. Having those would free up a huge amount of time to hunt or spend with Roundfur.

└It's not a perpetual motion machine. Where are you getting the mana?

└Wild Grylls: My body?

└Passing Dwarf: Just wash your clothes by hand.

└Wild Grylls: Okay...

└Lmaoooo

If even the dwarf was that firm about it, there really must be no way. I was about to give up and put off deciding what to do with the orichalcum when another comment appeared.

└Slutty Princess: Would you perhaps consider selling it to meee?

Slutty Princess. An offer from someone I hadn't expected—someone who had done nothing but give me things so far. After a moment of puzzlement, I asked what she wanted.

└Wild Grylls: You gave me clothes, so I'll give you some for free. Let me just confirm it's orichalcum first.

└Slutty Princess: Okaaay. I'll wait.

└Wild Grylls: What are you going to use it for?

└Slutty Princess: Broadcast magic. It starts cutting out after it's been running for a long time.

└Wild Grylls: Orichalcum can prevent that?

└Slutty Princess: Yep! It picks up the waves nicely and prevents overheating.

└Wild Grylls: Magic overheats too?

Even magic could overheat? That left me a little puzzled. I'd assumed you could fire it off as much as you wanted with the right formulas and enough mana, but apparently not.

└Slutty Princess: Of course! Most spells are one-shot, so that's a common misconception.

└Wild Grylls: That's interesting. I thought you could use magic as much as you liked.

└Slutty Princess: You know Starlight Lady, right? She couldn't use magic because her body was too frail. It's something like that.

└Starlight Lady: I can use it all I want now!

└Wild Grylls: Oooh.

I didn't really understand it, but I'd learned that magic could overheat, and that orichalcum reduced the problem. Either way, it was still good stuff.

└Wild Grylls: Anyway, I'll send you some once I've traded with the dwarf. Would you like a piece too, Starlight Lady? I picked up a few.

└Starlight Lady: Could I have one reasonably sized piece, then? My workshop's old and needs maintenance.

└Wild Grylls: That's the workshop where you make Elixir, right?

└Starlight Lady: Yes. I plan to make protein supplements while I'm at it, too.

└Wild Grylls: Uh...

└Full-on gym rat now lol

└Well, she used to be sick, so...

Since things had worked out this way, I might as well give the others a piece each too. I only had enough on hand to cover Starlight Lady's share, but the cave was littered with the stuff.

I ended the conversation there and started preparing a meal. Rather than smoked meat, I planned to cook the fish caught in my trap.

'One for me and one for Roundfur. I'll clean the last one and give it to the dwarf.'

As for the inner cores... I planned to keep them for now. Heavenly Demon had advised me to wait at least another week before consuming any. By then, I would have fully adjusted to the internal energy cultivation method, so there should be no problems.

The question was where to store them until then. I'd heard that the longer you kept an inner core, the more of its mana dispersed into the air.

'I'll put them in an empty bottle for now.'

I had a glass bottle left over from drinking Elixir. Perhaps putting them in there would let me preserve them a little longer.

I sorted out the inner cores and headed straight up to the river. Roundfur was still awake, so I had no choice but to take him along. We didn't wander off along the way, and nothing happened.

SPLASH! SPLASH!

“Kyuuu! Kyu!”

“Yes, yes. That's our lunch.”

Roundfur grew wildly excited at the sight of the fish in the trap, looking desperate to eat them right then and there. I collected the whole trap and returned to the hideout.

There were three fish in the trap altogether. Plenty. It looked as though I wouldn't have to worry about food for a while. That one trap felt like it had changed my whole quality of life.

“Nom nom nom nom!”

Just to be safe, I plucked out the inner core and gave the rest to Roundfur. He'd already eaten a snake, yet he was still enjoying this so much. What a glutton.

'Didn't they say bears like honey and salmon best?'

With that pointless thought, I started eating. The speed-sloth's meal was easily handled with fasting pills. Once everyone had finished, I cleaned the remaining fish for Passing Dwarf.

Wild Grylls has registered trade items.

Here's the cleaned fish and that ori-whatever.

Can I give you the crab tomorrow?

Passing Dwarf

Yeah, that's fine.

I'll just have one a day.

Thanks. Do you need the inner core too?

Passing Dwarf

I'll try infusing some liquor with it.

Uh...

This guy had to be the only person who would think of infusing liquor with an inner core. With my trade with the dwarf finished, there was one person left: Allfather, who I'd given the saber-toothed tiger's heart to yesterday. He'd been unusually quiet.

'Is he still researching it?'

Maybe he was. Waiting until Allfather posted something wouldn't be so bad. Considering everything he'd done for me so far, this was nothing.

'It'd feel wrong to rush him, too.'

Besides, the tiger's heart wasn't much use to me. Once I'd decided to trade with Allfather when he showed up, I remembered something I'd forgotten.

'Oh, right. The gate.'

I looked over at Roundfur, sprawled on the mat and sleeping without a care in the world. He might escape again while I was away, so I planned to install an iron fence across the entrance.

'Something big enough to block the entrance, but easy enough for me to move.'

Wondering if anything like that existed, I searched the auction house. The owlbear's rampage had widened the cave entrance, so I needed something large.

'They've got an iron grille, not a fence.'

That should do. It happened to be just the right size, too. I repeatedly moved the grille away from the entrance and set it back into place. Since Roundfur might knock it down with a body slam, I also made sure to build wooden supports.

'Yep. Perfect.'

The sight of the grille completely covering the entrance filled me with satisfaction. No more runaways.

Now all that remained was to wait for the dwarf's post. If the ore I'd found proved to be orichalcum, I could give a piece each to Slutty Princess and Starlight Lady.

'That bastard hasn't gotten drunk and forgotten about it, has he?'

* * *

And just as Grylls feared...

“Ahh! This is incredible! It just melts in your mouth! Where'd you get it?”

“Burp. Where's the fun in telling you? Here, have some mandrake-infused liquor. Let's drink ourselves to death today.”

“The more I drink, the more energy I have. I've never had liquor like this before.”

“You know what's even more amazing?”

“What?”

“It's not your imagination. The more you drink, the healthier you actually get.”

“Ohhh! Truly the liquor of the gods!”

Over in Mountain, the dwarves were having a drinking party in broad daylight. It was an exceedingly dwarflike part of everyday life.

“Oww. Why does it suddenly hurt?”

“D-did we drink too much? Burp.”