Hops and the others had no idea that Sui Xiong had drawn inspiration from their ore-sorting work, conducted some backward research, and ultimately reached the welcome conclusion that "the Northwest Republic will build a large-scale magic pool." They still diligently sorted ore every day, picking mithril ore out from silver ore before sending it to the two appraisal masters for further screening, to select naturally occurring mithril ore.
The work was dull and tedious, but it was excellent for honing one's skills. By the time that batch of silver ore had finally been fully sorted, Hops felt that his understanding of ores had improved once more. If this had been in a game, his "ore sorting" skill's proficiency would definitely have risen considerably, taking a solid stride forward on the path from expert to master.
If he could keep honing himself like this, perhaps in a year or half a year, he would be able to distinguish natural mithril from artificially formed mithril.
Thinking of this, he could not help but smile.
"You look very happy. Is it because that tedious ore-sorting job is finally over?" Ruby, who was sitting beside him, asked. "Honestly, that work was really a bit unbearable. I'd rather go alone to crusade against a pack of trolls than do that kind of job."
Looking at the faint dark circles beneath Ruby's eyes, Hops could not help laughing. "You didn't sort that much ore either, did you? Why do you look so exhausted?"
"I used to think fighting was exhausting. Now I know that handling internal affairs is exhausting too," Ruby said helplessly. "Every day, I have to coordinate manpower and deal with all kinds of matters... I'm really not good at this. I'm a warrior, not a scholar or a noble!"
"But I think you've