Mining

The asteroid belt mining zone near KQ-03 contained no especially high-quality ore veins, but Wang Dong didn't turn his nose up at even low-grade Energy Crystals.

Besides, early on, the system needed more low-grade Energy Crystals.

After pushing farther into the mining zone, the Mine Overlord Type 2 began to slow down thirty minutes later.

"Should be about right."

Wang Dong estimated how far in they had gone.

Any farther, and even with the piloting skills he'd brought back from his rebirth, it would be pushing it.

In fact, if not for the Energy Crystals, Wang Dong wouldn't have ventured this far into the mining zone.

For valuable ores like Energy Crystals, the odds of finding them were clearly higher deeper in the Asteroid Belt mining zone than near its outer edge.

The outer reaches of the mining zone had been visited more often. Even if there were Energy Crystals there, the chances were high that someone had already mined them.

Switching the probe to mineral-survey mode, Wang Dong patiently piloted the mining ship through the void.

He kept the particle stream emitted by the probe's external antenna trained on the target. Depending on the size and composition of the celestial body being surveyed, the report would take varying amounts of time to generate.

Wang Dong carefully monitored the surrounding space while piloting the ship, maintaining a relatively steady flight path to ensure the particle stream stayed focused on the target.

It was a technical job.

And a physically demanding one, too.

Not every asteroid or fragment contained mineral deposits.

And minerals varied in value depending on their type.

"With a body this big, it came back in 32 seconds. Probably junk. Yep, iron ore."

"28 seconds. Ha, copper ore. Junk."

Talking to oneself was one of the common habits of interstellar miners.

The complex celestial environment of an asteroid belt mining zone made long-distance communications difficult.

In such circumstances, talking to oneself to ease feelings like tension or anxiety was a natural choice.

Over the next hour or so, Wang Dong carefully surveyed one small celestial body after another in the nearby space that might contain minerals.

The results weren't encouraging.

He hadn't found any of the Energy Crystals he was hoping for, or even any of the higher-value mineral types.

But Wang Dong wasn't discouraged in the slightest.

Miners were miners.

Even interstellar miners had it rough.

Just look at that miners' song.

"One, two, three, four, five—mining's such a grind. All you dig up is copper, purity five every time."

Interstellar miners weren't much different.

In the interstellar age, common minerals like copper and iron really weren't worth much.

But they were also the minerals found in the greatest quantities.

Even if you filled the cargo hold on every trip with nothing but these cheap minerals, you still wouldn't make much profit.

Mining took capital, too.

Spending an hour or so screening the area was no big deal.

After finishing the survey of this patch of space, Wang Dong pushed the eight-way control stick and began moving to a new location.

His luck had turned.

Just by changing areas, he got much better results.

"85 seconds. Now that's something—gas ore."

"112 seconds. Ha! Look what I found—Ghost Titanium Ore!"

A little over forty minutes later, Wang Dong made a promising discovery.

Gas ore was solidified gas, and it fetched a handsome price—more than a thousand times that of copper or iron ore.

Ghost Titanium Ore was even more unusual. Once refined, this silver-white metal had exceptional toughness and hardness, making it excellent material for warship armor.

It was worth thirty times as much as gas ore!

In Wang Dong's experience, apart from Energy Crystals, Ghost Titanium Ore was one of the most valuable minerals in this asteroid belt mining zone.

Although Energy Crystals were his main target, he still needed to bring in some ordinary earnings.

This deposit of Ghost Titanium Ore had come at just the right time.

With practiced ease, Wang Dong adjusted the ship's flight posture, lining up the Mine Overlord Type 2's broad underside with the asteroid containing the deposit.

It was over three hundred meters in diameter—not especially large, but already close to the Mine Overlord Type 2's processing limit.

Now came the crucial part.

Wang Dong had to bring the Mine Overlord Type 2 within a hundred meters of the asteroid so its magnetic grapples could seize the asteroid's core.

Even a small asteroid outweighed the Mine Overlord Type 2 by a huge margin.

At such close range, the gravitational pull between them was enough to affect the Mine Overlord Type 2's flight posture.

If it accidentally crashed into the asteroid, things would get ugly.

They were deep inside the Asteroid Belt.

After a collision, either the Mine Overlord Type 2 or the asteroid could be affected and knocked off course, potentially plunging into a gravitational turbulence stream.

Wang Dong wasn't a novice, and they weren't yet in the true depths of the Asteroid Belt. With his skills, he had no trouble handling it.

His hands worked the eight-way control stick, making fine adjustments to the ship's eight directional thrusters. The Mine Overlord Type 2 steadily and resolutely inched closer to the asteroid.

The directional thrusters' minute adjustments counteracted the disturbances to the ship's flight posture caused by gravity almost as soon as they occurred.

He didn't need to calculate anything deliberately or watch the constant stream of data prompts on the Shipborne Optical Computer. Relying on instinctive reactions, Wang Dong executed the entire approach flawlessly.

His body had long since grown accustomed to the instincts of an interstellar miner.

Once it was lined up with the asteroid and close enough, the Mine Overlord Type 2 opened its underside.

First, four large magnetic grapples latched onto the asteroid and magnetically restrained it as a whole.

This took five minutes.

Once it was done, Wang Dong slightly relaxed his grip on the eight-way control stick.

The magnetic restraint temporarily made the Mine Overlord Type 2 and the target asteroid a single unit. It was a prerequisite for the entire mining process.

The next stage was much simpler.

Several large mining drills extended from the Mine Overlord Type 2's underside. Following the mineral distribution mapped by the probe, they began destructively mining the asteroid in front of them.

There was no need to worry about the asteroid deforming, shifting abnormally, or scattering fragments in every direction during the process.

With the magnetic restraint in place, none of that was a problem.

Made of high-strength alloy, the mining drills were the most expensive components on the entire Mine Overlord Type 2.

Driven by powerful engines, the drills stripped away the asteroid's outer rock with devastating force and burrowed deep inside at considerable speed.

More than five hours later, with the Shipborne Optical Computer's assistance, the mining drills finished working over the entire asteroid.

More than a hundred tons of Ghost Titanium Ore had been added to the Mine Overlord Type 2's cargo hold.

One-eighth of the asteroid in front of them had been reduced to a loose mass of scattered rocks.

Although a considerable amount of it remained, all of the Ghost Titanium Ore it contained had been extracted.

Wang Dong piloted the Mine Overlord Type 2 at his leisure, retracting the mining drills first and then pulling in the magnetic grapples.

Then he pushed the eight-way control stick and quickly moved away from the asteroid.

A few minutes later, the asteroid, no longer held together by magnetic restraint, shed a large number of loose rocks in every direction. Its orbit also began to drift.

This triggered a few chain reactions in the surrounding area.

Wang Dong had already left.

This was a typical day's work for an interstellar miner.

Rough and direct, yet careful and precise.