Chapter 213: Silver Threads and Golden Needles (1/2)

The remaining two ores proved to be troublesome to locate. No matter where Rino probed in this mine, he could not find where the dwarves found their gold and silver supply. Maybe he was looking at this wrongly. The existing mineshafts might not be everything this mine had to offer.

With only two days or less to locate them, Rino started to go crazy with his graphite pencil. Replacing the crumbly charcoal in his wooden tube with graphite proved to be Rino's best decision so far as the search for silver and gold proved futile.

After recruiting assistants to help with his mine probing, Rino sat back and waited for the results. Half a day later, Kamiya came back with negative findings of silver and gold. Rino even tried to use divination for silver and gold in the mines, walking around and repeating the spell a few hundred times, but there were no reactions.

Bored, Rino flipped through his tutorial, hoping to learn something new about the ores he had to find. At this moment, Rino realised how dumb he was to assume he knew ores had to be found in the mountains.

The first thing he found out was how different the ores looked from their smelted form. Silver was grey, and gold was yellow when smelted and extracted. However, in their natural ore form, they were unrecognisable.

Gold was often white and hidden in quartz that came in surprisingly many colours. Rino knew what quarts were. Some crystals and magic amplifying gadgets were made from that crystal. He just did not know that gold came with quarts in their natural formation.

Silver wasn't grey or shiny as an ore. In fact, it was completely opposite and extremely dull in colour. The ore could be found as brown or black in some cases as silver is often mixed with other minerals and has to be extracted before it turns grey. When polished, silver can sparkle. However, without coating in oil, silver will turn a dull grey very quickly. No wonder the silver utensils that he ate with had to be galvanised with chrome, and the real silver coins were always murky in colour.

Ignoring their appearance, Rino finally understood why probing the mountain did not work. Silver and gold could not be found in natural mountains. If anything, they could only be found near volcanic activities, much like other priceless gems like diamonds.

The dwarves did not get their silver and gold from this mine. There had to be another way to obtain them, and Rino made it his mission to find out what they were hiding.

Humming an old song he once heard in a tavern, Rino wondered if it was truly possible to make silver threads and golden needles. The fanciful embroidered royal vests were rumoured to be stitched using golden threads and silver needles, but Rino had his doubts. Metal could not bend so easily, and pure gold was dreadfully soft. It would change shape at the slightest force and is highly malleable without alloys mixtures.

Volcanoes were usually easy to spot from above, but Rino did not remember seeing any volcanoes in this mountain range. He remembered the hot spring back in Noir province, which made him wonder where the source was from. The dwarves could not have travelled that far to find gold and silver ores. In fact, they did not look like they left the mines at all for years.

Pond. Water. Entrance.

The memory of the abandoned docks made Rino freeze. He wasn't able to feel the temperature, but Noir could. Unfortunately, Noir did not swim, so Noir could not tell him if the water was hot or cold. Maybe the water wasn't actually cold. It might be warm, or at least some parts of it could be warm.

The number of people who could swim and tell him if the water was hot or cold was numbered. None of the undead could tell him that, and Rino wasn't sure if he should trouble his elderly teacher to take a dip in the water.