Magical Mineral 2

When the vein was exhausted, they would prospect anew.

"Take a look at this ore—I've never seen anything like it. Anyone know what it is?" Sandman barely exerted himself, the bulging veins driving his muscles to generate a tremendous force that crushed the palm-sized black ore in his hand into several pieces, which he passed to his companions.

"From the color, it looks like tungsten, but tungsten is far harder than this."

"Not black manganese either..."

The black ore made its way through a dozen hands, but no one could identify it.

For the people of Lycaeus, who lived by mining, this was utterly absurd.

"This seems to be Black Orichalcum Ore. Black Orichalcum is an extremely rare mineral; its properties vary depending on the elements that compose it, making it easy to mistake for pyrolusite." Korax studied it for a long while before giving a definitive answer.

"Based on the characteristics of this Black Orichalcum, it should make an excellent shielding material—highly effective against energy pulse bombs or psychic probing. At the same time, its energy conductivity is outstanding. Apart from its scarcity, it has no flaws. A single planet might not yield ten tons. And I mean raw ore," Korax said.

"This stuff... scarce?" Sandman's expression twisted into something utterly bizarre at Korax's description.

He had taken the detector and probed all the way from Tunnel 13 inward, walking at least several hundred meters, and the readings were consistent throughout. When digging, he had estimated they'd excavated at least five meters deep before reaching the Adamantite Ore layer, and that didn't even account for the unexplored tunnel sections.

"The tunnel I went through had at least five meters of Black Orichalcum Ore encasing the Adamantite vein," Sandman reported.

"Is that true?" Korax was stunned. By his reckoning, this area alone held at least a hundred tons in reserves—and that was only the section Sandman had covered, calculated from a rough minimum of five meters' depth.

"Boss, this ore is rarer than Adamantite!" the group of companions immediately began chattering.

"Arendi, from now on, you personally oversee the development of Tunnel 13. Don't let the Black Orichalcum fall into the hands of those ignorant slave masters. Find a large space in the abandoned tunnels and store it all there—this stuff will be crucial in the future," Sandman ordered.

Even professional miners couldn't identify it; handing it over to the slave masters for supplies would only get it treated as pyrolusite.

Sandman quickly grasped its true value—it was far rarer than Korax had suggested. For instance, mixing the ashes of the Soulless with this metal, combined with other materials, could create laboratories or cells that isolated the Warp.

Mixed with Soulless ashes in the right proportions, it could produce Anti-Psionic shells or psychic annihilation rounds.

Moreover, metal extracted from this ore, when applied to the Raven Guard's Power Armor, could further enhance their already absurd stealth capabilities.

The crows, who could already pull off stealth operations in Terminator armor and Centurion Warsuits, might now be able to sneak around in Dreadnoughts or Knights?

There's a world of difference between a company of Raven Guard in standard Power Armor stepping out from the shadow of a tree and a company of Terminators or Dreadnoughts doing the same.

Absurd.

Sandman found the thought almost unbelievable.

Though the Raven Guard weren't famous among the twenty legions and their battle records weren't outstanding, that was due to their strategic considerations—many campaign records remained classified and never made public.

In truth, as Sandman saw it, the Raven Guard's capabilities were exceptional among the legions. If not for the Raven King's return to the Imperium being so brief, and Horus's betrayal striking so fiercely, the Raven Guard would undoubtedly rank among the top.

The fact that three thousand escaped the encirclement of eight legions during the Istvaan V Landing Massacre said it all—the Iron Hands and Salamanders barely got anyone out.

No other Primarch would dare claim their legion could match that, let alone surpass the Raven Guard.

So, for various reasons, Sandman absolutely would not allow these precious ores to be lost and taken away as common pyrolusite.

"Wait, Korax is the Raven Guard's Primarch. Why am I worrying about this?" Sandman suddenly realized.

The actual Primarch was right here.

"Could it be that Korax is the Legion Champion, and I'm the—" Sandman looked at Korax, recalling the Khan's venomous tongue when facing his brother Mortarion.

"Let the true Legion Master come out and face me!"

Saying that to a Primarch was the ultimate insult to a gene-bound Legion Master.

"Korax, what do you think we should do with this Black Orichalcum Ore?" Sandman unexpectedly asked the young Primarch.

"Uh... Boss, didn't you already say to find a place and store it separately?" Korax hadn't expected Sandman to suddenly ask him.

The problem was, he hadn't thought about it—he was new here, after all.

"Mm. Then how would you like to use these precious ores?" Clearly, Sandman wasn't about to let Korax off the hook.

You're going to bear the burden of humanity's revival as a Primarch someday—how can you be so slack?!

"Boss... Korax has only been here for less than a day. You might be rushing things a bit..." Arendi interjected helplessly, reminding his leader.

"Ah, right. Korax hasn't even been here a full day yet..." Sandman came to his senses. Primarchs were freaks among freaks, but they couldn't pull knowledge out of thin air.

"Given our current conditions, these ores can't be put to much use. I need a detailed understanding of the camp's existing resources and equipment." Korax's mind held many applications for this ore, but his words stayed grounded.

"Alright, let's call it a day. We'll head back, and tomorrow we'll start assigning people to excavate these two tunnels." Glancing at the time, Sandman, exhausted from the day's work, had no choice but to leave it for tomorrow.

As the relief shift began arriving, Arendi handed over to the Agapito Brothers. The shift's miners then boarded the cramped ore transport carts and returned to the surface.