Ice Sheet Mapping

"But," Su Ming raised a crucial question, "Where will we get the enormous amount of materials needed to recreate this magic array in the future?"

As the partial restoration work progresses, the basic materials and mediums used in the magic circle have been analyzed.

When the Rift Tribe set up the magic array, they used local materials. However, after ten thousand years, many of the materials that were easy to find in Northern Ice Island back then have become quite rare due to geological changes and various forms of consumption.

Moreover, these Old Humanity were incredibly extravagant in their use of materials. Therefore, while the technical ability to analyze them is one aspect, the preparation of materials will also be a huge challenge.

"How about we entrust the Feather Race to handle the mining, and we'll pay for it?" Zijin suggested.

"Our Feather Race is very willing to engage in such a transaction," Qingling immediately responded from the side, "However— Northern Ice Island no longer has many of these types of mineral veins, especially Rock Core ore."

Zijin was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, "I remember that Northern Ice Island has fairly good reserves of alchemical materials! Especially Rock Core —something that was previously considered to have little use, shouldn't you have a lot of stockpiles of them?"

Qingling explained helplessly, "Over the years, the Four Directions Chamber of Commerce has been purchasing Rock Core on a large scale in Northern Ice Island. We've sold them almost all the easy-to-mine Rock Core veins we could find. What's left are either deep underground veins that are extremely difficult to mine, or low-quality ores."

The Four Directions Chamber of Commerce was the same chamber of commerce that Su Ming first encountered when he went to the Central Ocean Waters. Charles, who met them on the Zhiyuan at that time, was the vice president of that chamber of commerce.

Zijin initially intended to rip this guy off, planning to sell him teleportation array materials that seemed useless at the time at a high price. However, later, during the negotiations, Charles tried to subtly remind them that Yexiya on Water Chestnut Island was a trap.

Although this crucial hint was misunderstood and ignored by the two at the time, leading them straight into the trap and killing the still-wounded Yexiya.

However, Charles still owed her a favor. Therefore, Zijin would naturally not carry out the plan to frame him.

However, it now appears that this decision actually benefited them. Many of the "useless" materials that were originally planned to be disposed of were precisely what the Rift Tribe's ancient teleportation array needed!

****

"Is such a large landmass as Northern Ice Island completely depleted of its mineral resources?" Su Ming asked, puzzled, after all, it was a vast landmass with an area of 1.6 million square kilometers.

"It's not depletion in that sense," Qingling explained. "Most of Northern Ice Island is covered by thick glaciers, making prospecting for minerals far more difficult than the actual mining itself." He unfolded a simple map. "The ice bed terrain is extremely complex, concealing numerous subglacial lakes and underground rivers. Our speed in exploring and searching for new veins in this environment simply cannot keep up with the rate at which mining consumes resources."

Therefore, what is being depleted is the proven reserves.

Su Ming understood the predicament. He picked up the simple map and examined it carefully, discovering that the glaciers covering Northern Ice Island were generally over 100 meters thick, with some areas even reaching an astonishing 1,000 meters.

"If," an idea suddenly popped into his head, "Could I help you draw a detailed map of the glacier?"

"Are you referring to a topographic map of the surface?" Qingling asked. "That's not very useful; we need to understand what's beneath the ice."

"It refers to the detailed structure inside the glacier," Su Ming said. "This includes the layering of the ice, the internal fissures, the location of subglacial lakes, and most importantly, the actual landforms and geological structures beneath the glacier—all of which can be mapped out."

Upon hearing this, Qingling's eyes lit up immediately. Even Chloe, who was organizing data nearby, looked up at Su Ming in surprise, "Can you really do this level of surveying?"

"Yes, you can." Su Ming answered confidently.

****

After a simple lunch that day, the crew members remaining on the Pansy delivered the materials Su Ming needed, as well as the Rainbow No. 3 drone.

Soon, Su Ming completed the equipment summoning. The Rainbow No. 3 UAV was refitted with a P-band low-frequency ice-penetrating radar.

However, the target mining area was not near Dragon Cliff. With the assistance of the Feather Race, the group began their journey, carrying the equipment.

That night, they arrived at the frozen fortress known as the "Polar City," the largest settlement of the Feather Race in Northern Ice Island.

"Should we conduct a probe in this area?" Su Ming asked.

"Yes," Qingling explained, "Our settlement was originally established in an area with relatively abundant mineral veins."

However, most of the shallow, easily accessible and mineable mineral deposits have been exhausted, and the remaining veins are buried deep beneath the ice layer.

"Then, let's begin here!"

Under Su Ming's skillful operation, Rainbow No. 3 quickly took off. The weather was exceptionally clear, with not a cloud in the sky and a dense array of stars in the deep night sky, making it an ideal environment for drone operations.

Once the radar was powered on, a large amount of raw echo signals were quickly collected. Initially, the ice signals displayed on the radar screen were extremely chaotic, consisting of strong reflections from the surface and weak echoes from the interfaces between different layers within the ice.

These signals are not only cluttered, but their penetration depth also appears to be very limited.

Zijin looked at Su Ming with some doubt, "This scan result... doesn't seem to make any sense."

"Don't rush," Su Ming replied, "You've seen the power of synthetic aperture radar before."

He switched the radar's operating mode. The Rainbow No. 3 UAV also entered autopilot mode and began flying on an extremely precise circular trajectory.

During this movement, its radar antenna, through synthetic aperture technology, forms a virtual antenna array with an extremely large physical size.

As the signal was synthesized, the entire radar image became much clearer, and the layered structure of the ice began to appear, but the details were still not rich enough, and the topography at the bottom of the ice bed remained blurry.

Zijin propped her head up with her hand, watching the screen with great interest, signaling Su Ming to continue his "performance".

Before long, the first mapping flight was completed, and Su Ming collected a massive amount of data covering hundreds of square kilometers in one go. The Rainbow Drone also returned to the starting point of the SAR mapping. Su Ming then controlled it to perform a second, identical circular flight.

"We need to fly it again to obtain the data required for the interferometry," Su Ming explained.

"It's phase difference, right!" Zijin smiled slightly, then her expression changed. "I just read the instruction manual. I can only say that I recognize the individual words."

"Actually, I'm not much better than you," Su Ming said with a smile.