The Raging Tiger Floating Land Mining Vehicle's Incredible Efficiency

The Raging Tiger I Floating Land Mining Vehicle's Incredible Efficiency

About half an hour later, the Fierce Tiger Mining Vehicle's onboard intelligence issued another alert.

"Radiation from 'Mithril ore' detected on a fragment at coordinates xxxxx to the left. Preliminary estimate: over ten tons."

Song Chi instinctively wanted to ignore it, but then he realized what he had heard.

"Mithril? More than ten tons?"

If he remembered correctly, Mithril was a resource even more valuable than Adamantine. The average price of Adamantine was around 1 strand of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence per ton, while Mithril sold for as much as 5 strands per ton.

If there really were more than ten tons of Mithril, it was absolutely worth mining. Fifty strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence might not sound like much, but it was far from insignificant.

Song Chi had been able to start with 1,000 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence only because both his parents were Kindling captains. For ordinary Kindling starships that had only recently awakened, the gains from a single Alien Starfield Exploration were usually around 100 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence. These fifty strands alone were already half that amount.

Without much hesitation, he turned the Cangqiong to the left and carefully headed toward the coordinates of the small fragment suspected to contain Mithril.

Song Chi was in no rush. As he advanced, he kept a close watch on the radar display.

After cultivating the Guidance Art to lv4, the improvements it gave him were not limited to his physique. The enhancement to his mental faculties was just as impressive. Multitasking between two things was merely basic practice. It was said that once the Guidance Art reached an extremely high level, handling ten tasks at once—or even more—would not be difficult.

Although the standard Sky-Patrol Radar could not detect life fluctuations, it could still detect high-level Starsea creatures charging at full speed or special warships from alien Starsea civilizations approaching.

Still, the chances of encountering high-level Starsea creatures or high-level alien civilizations during the first welfare distribution were extremely low. No other accidents occurred, and the Cangqiong soon reached the target fragment.

This was a small fragment dozens of meters long, far larger than the Cangqiong. Song Ran did not immediately deploy the mining vehicle. Instead, he had the Cangqiong circle the area once. Only after thoroughly ruling out any danger did he control the shuttle to land on the target fragment.

After that, there was nothing left for him to do. The onboard intelligence of the Raging Tiger I Floating Land Mining Vehicle automatically controlled it out of the Cangqiong's hangar. Upon reaching the location with the strongest radiation, it began mining on its own.

Inside the Cangqiong, Song Chi waited quietly. Though his face remained expressionless, he was deeply satisfied. The Raging Tiger Mining Vehicle might have been expensive, but its efficiency was undeniably impressive.

If other newly awakened Kindling captains had mined manually, extracting those ten tons of Mithril would have taken at least five hours. At the Raging Tiger Mining Vehicle's current efficiency, it would take no more than forty minutes.

The facts proved that Song Chi's estimate had been correct. Thirty-five minutes later, the Raging Tiger I Floating Land Mining Vehicle returned to the Cangqiong's hangar carrying ten tons of Mithril, taking less than forty minutes in total.

Song Chi entered the Market Ruins as quickly as possible and piled all ten tons of Mithril in an empty area before continuing the exploration.

Two hours later.

The Cangqiong was still slowly weaving through the fragment belt. Since finding the ten tons of Mithril, it had not detected anything worth his effort a second time. Either the value was too low, or the quantity was too small.

Still, the more than eight tons of Adamantine raw ore detected by the prospector not long ago tempted him somewhat. Although refining the raw ore would reduce the amount somewhat, it could still sell for five or six strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence. Even a mosquito's leg was meat—better than wandering around aimlessly.

Just as he was hesitating, the mining vehicle's onboard intelligence issued another alert.

"Moderate 'Purple Copper' radiation area discovered. Conservative estimate places Purple Copper reserves at over five hundred tons. Fragment coordinates: xxxxx."

Song Chi raised a brow, immediately pulling himself out of his indecision as detailed information about Purple Copper surfaced in his mind.

Purple Copper was a low-grade metal resource, typically selling for around 1 strand of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence per five tons. It was not particularly valuable.

But no matter how cheap it was, there was simply too much of it. With a conservative estimate of over five hundred tons, mining it all would bring in at least 100 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence.

If other low-level Kindling starships had encountered it, they likely would not have touched it. Leaving aside whether they carried a Raging Tiger Mining Vehicle with them at all times, even if they mined everything, transporting it back afterward would be a problem.

But Song Chi was different. With the Myriad Heavens Market and a Raging Tiger I Floating Land Mining Vehicle, he was determined to claim these hundreds of tons of Purple Copper.

He got to work immediately. Just as before, after reaching the target fragment, he first surveyed the area. Only after confirming there was no danger did he deploy the mining vehicle and let it begin mining on its own.

Mining several hundred tons of Purple Copper was not difficult, but it clearly could not be completed in a short time. To avoid wasting that period, Song Chi removed the Mining Vehicle Prospector again.

He planned to use the time while the mining vehicle worked to conduct a preliminary survey of the surrounding area. That way, once the Raging Tiger Mining Vehicle finished mining this batch of Purple Copper, it could immediately begin the next round of work.

Although removing the prospector would somewhat affect the Raging Tiger Mining Vehicle's mining speed, separating the two for a while was more cost-effective when the benefits were weighed against each other.

Before leaving, Song Chi, still somewhat uneasy, left behind three Fire Sunflower Soldiers to guard the fragment, lest the considerable commotion caused by the Raging Tiger Mining Vehicle's work attract the attention of unknown creatures.

Several hours later, hundreds of kilometers from the fragment where the Raging Tiger Mining Vehicle was located, the Cangqiong's speed slowed slightly as another alert came from the prospector.

Because there was no onboard intelligence to provide an active notification, Song Chi could only leave the pilot's seat and inspect it manually.

"Mercury Crystal, ten kilograms. This is worth even more than Mithril, but the quantity is too small to be worth mining."

Just then, the Sky-Patrol Radar on the console behind him suddenly sounded a series of alarms. Song Chi reacted swiftly, returning to the pilot's seat at top speed as his gaze swept back and forth between the radar screen and the projection display.

He quickly identified the source of the radar alert. On the radar display, within the fragment belt several thousand kilometers away, hundreds of fragments that had originally been stationary had all undergone obvious displacement at nearly the same time.

Clearly, that was not normal. Otherwise, the Sky-Patrol Radar would not have sounded an alarm.

Song Chi narrowed his eyes, his expression grave. Causing such a disturbance was clearly beyond what Zero Rank energy fluctuations could accomplish.

At that thought, he instinctively shrank back, unwilling to go over and join the excitement.

P.S. I didn't get a recommendation slot this week and will have to wait until next week, so there is only one update today.