Cthulhu Gonfalon

Through the magnifying glass, Hopes glanced at the silver ore in his hand carefully and continuously rotated it under the sunlight to observe it from various angles.

After a while, he used a bizarre shaft of reflection to confirm the quality of the ore.

“Mithril, more than 50% pure,” he muttered to himself. He placed the ore in a wooden trunk to his left. He then picked up another ore from the pile in front of him and began the observations again.

After a few minutes, he shook his head, muttering “silver ore” before throwing it far, far away into a rattan basket.

This difference in treatment was due to the vast disparity in value between the two types of ores. The silver ore had little value, and even if it were to be refined into sterling silver, it would also only be used for silver coins. For the stone that he had just gotten rid of, after extraction, it would only be able to form about ten silver coins. After paying for the extraction process, it would only be worth two silver coins. Two silver coins, to Hopes, was a meager amount. When he treated his friends to meals, the total bill would exceed that significantly.

However, Mithril was different. Although the one that he had just picked up was a lower-value Mithril, after extraction, its value could be counted in terms of gold coins. On average, it was worth about one gold coin per gram. The piece that he had just examined could extract about 40 grams of Mithril, and that would be about forty to fifty gold coins!

If this had been the naturally-occurring Mithril mine, one piece would be worth about two hundred gold coins or more. If it were made into an actual product, it could even be worth more than five hundred gold coins, and that was higher than his pay for a month!

Coming from different backgrounds, one’s status was naturally different as well. Even though there were many men on this expedition related to mining, the people on the exploration team were mainly appraisers for the two masters, helping them to select materials and extracting secret silver ore. However, the masters were in charge of choosing the innate secret silver mines from the secret silver ore. With this difference in workload, there was also a difference in authority and thus, status.

Hopes’ salary, along with about seven or eight of the workers, added up to that of one master’s salary. This included the bonus allowance that they received from the Republic of Northwest. Otherwise, if it were strictly in accordance with the standard of the Commonwealth, it would be only a minor fraction of the master’s pay.

However, Hopes was satisfied with his current pay as it was suitable for his job scope. He knew that he had limited abilities, and thus, this was the best pay that he could get. For example, if a piece of naturally-occurring secret silver ore and acquired Mithril were given to him, he really would not be able to tell them apart. To do so, the easiest way would be to use magic. One had to use the advanced identification spell. However, this spell was an unconventional magic technique that could generally only be achieved by a high-level wizard, and that would be a waste of his time and energy. A normal, high-ranking mage would also only be able to do this spell five to six times a day, and each spell could only identify two to three of the ores. That would be an incredible waste of magic overall! If not for any special deals, at the market rate, such an inspection would cost thousands of gold coins… When compared like this, the masters of identification’s pay did not seem that ludicrous after all.

This was why Hope’s friend, Cambrona, constantly urged him to train hard while he was young to become a high-level druid and earn himself both wealth and status in the future.

Among the Void gods in Void Mask City, the God of Agriculture had a special bias for druids. Currently, he had about twenty high-level druids invested in him. His church also had few pastors, and the spellcasters were mostly druids.

The God of Agriculture was developing technology to improve agriculture so that people could gain more resources from the limited arable land. This would also reduce the damage that the people did to the environment, and this received the praise and support of the druids in general. In particular, the druids who advocated for “the harmonious coexistence of man and nature” viewed him as an idol and were fully invested in him, making the God of Agriculture’s following extremely strong.

Currently, in this world, to learn druid knowledge, the most reliable way would be to enter the Republic of Northwest and enter the God of Agriculture’s church.

Hopes had a decent level of natural magical talent, and this signaled that he was suitable to train to be a druid. However, personally, he had no interest and would rather be a paladin. This was because there were many rules in being a druid, such as not being able to kill for food. Druids also had to reduce seasoning when consuming food as they were supposed to live a simple life; they could not wear woven clothing; they could not use gold-based weapons or protection; they could not live in a busy city for extended periods of time; they could not attend extravagant dinners or celebrations, etc.

It was not that he could not adhere to these rules, but Hopes had no desire to. Only those who were truly inclined towards nature and hated the stressfulness of modern life could become a druid. Druids were people who were not interested in drama and entertainment and who wanted to focus on cultivating inner peace. This was not Hopes.

“Another silver ore!” He threw yet another piece of ore into the rattan basket. Hopes felt rather tired and stood up to take a break. He walked over to the poolside to wash his hands and take a walk in the camp.

Choosing ores was a meticulous and detailed task that required immense focus. If one was not in the right mood, it would affect the quality and speed of work. Thus, it would be wise to take breaks every now and then. Looking at Hopes’ free and easy style, the workers from the Commonwealth of Golden Coins stared on in envy. There were many differences between the workers of the Commonwealth and the Republic. For example, in terms of workers’ treatment, the Commonwealth workers were subject to a much stricter protocol as they had different statuses.

For example, in this join exploration team, there were also miners from the Commonwealth. However, when they were tired, they were not allowed to take random walks. They could only take short naps in the tents before returning to work. Although their pay and work quality were about the same, Hopes did not have a minimum requirement of ores. Without caring for a minimum load, he could rest for a few days without any issues, and he could still get his allowance.

However, workers from the Commonwealth had a minimum quota to hit per day, and if this was not met, then their salaries would be reduced. Their pay was already meager, so if it were to be further reduced, it would be hard for them to sustain their family expenses.

This expectation was made worse by the fact that the minimum quota was calculated based on the most experienced worker. Thus, for the average man to complete the quota, they had to work overtime. No matter how much they admired Hopes, there was nothing they could do. Rest? They simply did not have time to do so.

“The actions by the Commonwealth seem rather familiar… Where have I seen this situation before? In reality? Or online?” Sui Xiong mused to himself as he floated in the air and observed the situation at camp. “In any case, I have a bad feeling about this…”