Chapter 227: Bold Gamble (2/2)

Rino could not prove that his idea was right for the longest time because metals, when molten, could mix with one another to form a new metal with different properties. He could not test the difference between them during the huge coin forgery case where lead and copper coins circulated in the capital to replace actual silver and bronze coins.

Many people used fire to test the authenticity of coins, even biting on them to determine if they were pure silver and gold. If there were teeth marks on the coins, they were pure silver and gold. Unfortunately, it was a little harder to test bronze and copper. Ideally, copper was mixed with tin to form bronze. However, other cheap metals like lead were sometimes added to copper, and the copper amount might be reduced to save cost for fake coins circulating in the market.

Now that Rino learned how versatile the divination spell was, he had ideas to modify it to do a lot more than simply searching.

Normally, it wasn't possible for divination spells birthed from holy magic to work alongside shadow magic born from the opposite nature. However, Noir was able to successfully create a version of divination magic without adding any elements. The theory was simple, and even as Rino copied the talismans for his subordinates a few hundred times, he could not understand Noir's trick to locating and understanding so much depth about the located ore pockets.

The black cat was able to determine the size and location accurately with just one spell. Rino was still trying to figure out how that happened. Divination without elemental help was like an area search using mana particles in the environment as a radar to reflect its location based on search perimeters.

Rino already added a concentration or searchable element within a certain size specifics to help his miners locate the desired ores for mining. Apart from size, was it possible for Rino to add a follow-up spell trigger on such talismans?

Deciding that this might be worth a shot, Rino attempted to add a sorting spell. If the talisman could detect, it could also attempt to contain or move certain objects to the focal point before the spell expired.

The first attempt ended miserably as Rino's shadow tendrils failed to grab the overly tiny grounded dust full of metals that he wanted. Hence, the second attempt to modify the grabbing action occurred.

Using gravitational manipulation, Rino hoped that moving the right dust particles over in the right direction was easier. However, the spell proved disappointing when nothing much changed from the first experiment. Rino was back to square one as he looked at the dust particles. He couldn't draw all of them over to the baby iron bar either because crushed hematite ore contained other fused elements with the iron. Maybe he had to melt them first?

Thinking back to his discovery about density, Rino wondered if this would work on metals as well. Anything was worth a shot at this point. Rino wondered if he needed to extract the ores from the other things like sand before he tried fractional distillation of molten metals according to their density.

The talisman would be useful in identifying the metal Rino wanted, but how should he convert the molten metal into a solid without issues?

Molten metals became solids when cooled. Instead of risking oxidation and even accidental alloy mixtures, Rino could implement heat magic manipulation to instantly cool the chosen area of identified molten metals. Then, using dark magic to teleport it into temporary storage, the metal can be retrieved safely.

The idea sounded decent to Rino, who liked it better than using harmful substances to remove the gold. For the other metals, he could continue using charcoal, sand and crushed marble. Silver and gold were a little more tedious to process, and Rino did not want anyone to volunteer for ribcage extracting duties.

With this, the lich modified the divination spell and made a trip back to the mines to get his test ores. That prototype magic furnace should still be functioning, so he went to the storage to retrieve it as well.

It might be a bold gamble, but with high stakes, the returns should be sweeter.

From up above, Ace was impressed by what Rino managed to think about just from his sloppy divination spell. Rino wasn't wrong about him using only mana particle manipulation to identify the ores. Divination was originally called a holy spell because of its guidance from a blessing whenever it was used. The prayer chants gave them their element, but no magical elements were required for those who knew how to cast it. All the caster needed was good mana sensitivity and control.

Eager to see how Rino's new spell turned out, Ace skipped his prayer listening duties for a while to observe. They never know when this crazy genius' ideas could be the next breakthrough for alchemy and mana smithing. Many other gods have tried, and only a few succeeded. If Rino succeeded, Ark had to treat Rino better for giving their department the leverage they needed to gain their former glorious positions in this god realm.