As the Yellow Sand Crystal absorbed, the mine carts soon contained only a pile of stone debris, with the Golden Scale Celestial Iron and other substances already completely absorbed by the Yellow Sand Crystal.

The Yellow Sand Crystal itself is a highly efficient refining tool, capable of precisely absorbing the minerals within the ore without any loss.

Typically, extracting Magic Metal from ore, after processes like smelting and separation, will result in some loss.

The Yellow Sand Crystal can achieve 100% absorption; still, the amount absorbed is minimal because the content of Golden Scale Celestial Iron within the ore is really low.

This whole cart hasn't absorbed much Golden Scale Celestial Iron, only a small portion of the yellow sand improved in quality.

In Duke's palm sat a small handful of yellow sand, which was recently enhanced in quality by absorbing the ore.

After absorbing Golden Scale Celestial Iron, the yellow sand's hardness and density improved a lot, and its surface gained a metallic sheen.

Moreover, having absorbed the Magic Metal Golden Scale Celestial Iron, these sands now have a better affinity with Magic Power, greatly enhancing the magic capacity of each grain, indirectly raising the sand's strength limit.

Just this small amount of sand was not enough to be useful, not even sufficient to form a single Rock Spike.

Duke continued to advance along the mine tunnel, absorbing visible ore all the way, meticulously collecting every piece.

As he gradually ventured deeper, he reached a slightly lower area underground, where the walls of the mine tunnel were often rather damp.

In some places, there were little pools of water, and the sound of droplets falling into these pools echoed crisply throughout the tunnel.

After a while, Duke arrived at a relatively spacious area, seemingly specifically excavated to store mined ores.

The mine carts transport the ores from this place to the surface, with at least eight or nine tons of ore piled here, yet it's uncertain how much Golden Scale Celestial Iron can be absorbed from it.

Duke then urged the Yellow Sand Crystal to begin absorbing these ores, with the absorption speed of the Yellow Sand Crystal very fast.

Momentarily, only a heap of debris remained in front of Duke, as those ores turned into a sand-like substance.

From these eight or nine tons of ore, Duke only absorbed a little over eight pounds of Golden Scale Celestial Iron.

This demonstrates that generally, the content of Golden Scale Celestial Iron in one ton of ore is about one pound.

This is under the circumstance where the Yellow Sand Crystal causes no loss; ordinary refining processes would incur significant losses.

This is the commonality among most Magic Metals, with low contents within ores; otherwise, their prices wouldn't be so high.

Duke looked at the pitch-black, deep tunnel ahead, contemplating continuing forward, proceeding along the winding, meandering tunnel downwards, gradually reaching the mining area.

A small open area suddenly emerged ahead, but rather than a room, it resembled a wound violently gouged out.

The low ceiling was covered with grim gouge marks, coarse, damp wooden beams tilted, seemingly burdened to breaking point.

The ground was a chaotic mess, strewn with angular stone fragments, ore residue, and rusted tool remnants.

The air was thick with dust and the scent of decaying wood, and each breath carried a scent of earthy grime.

On the surrounding rock wall, a conspicuous, deeper-colored mineral vein shimmered faintly with metallic gleam, embedded in the rock like the blood vessels of a monstrous beast, fresh gouge marks covering it.

A few pickaxes lay casually by the mineral vein, beside some harvested yet untransported raw ore.

Several extinguished mine lamps hung on wooden frames, their shades covered with a thick layer of dust.

This was the first time Duke saw the distribution of the mineral veins, clearly manifested on the rock wall; these ores containing Golden Scale Celestial Iron were slightly reddened, starkly distinguishing them from ordinary rocks.

Ahead lay several branching paths, extending deeper; it was evident this area was deeply excavated and likely had been mined for a long period.

Duke commenced absorption directly, as the mineral veins here were plentiful; he just needed to be careful during absorption, ensuring the structural integrity here was not damaged.

The quantity of mined ores here far exceeded those earlier; merely untransported mined ores amounted to twenty or thirty tons, not to mention those yet to be mined, which were of unknown extent.

If not for the fear of causing a collapse, Duke would have absorbed without restraint.

Being some depth from the surface now, Duke had to remain cautious, lest a collapse ensue, making the escape quite taxing.

As Duke started absorption, these ores gradually turned into a heap of loose sand, with the Golden Scale Celestial Iron continually flowing into the Yellow Sand Crystal.

After absorbing the mined ores on the ground, he then proceeded to absorb those unmined ores in the rock wall.

Before absorption, Duke scrutinized the structure on the rock wall.

He discovered that the Golden Scale Celestial Iron veins distributed in strip-like formations within the rock, allowing him to use the Yellow Sand Crystal to absorb these ores precisely, preserving the structural integrity of the rock.

Due to the presence of granite and other solid rock structures within the rock wall, these could temporarily support and maintain the structural integrity here without significant changes.

Duke promptly commenced absorption, albeit at a slower pace, exercising greater caution.

After absorbing the Golden Scale Celestial Iron, he manipulated the ground's yellow sand to fill in the voids left behind.

The distribution of Golden Scale Celestial Iron veins here far exceeded his initial expectations, gradually revealing even richer veins as absorption continued.

Seeing this, Duke couldn't help but be astonished; the abundance of Golden Scale Celestial Iron veins here perhaps rivaled that of the previous mining site.

As time passed, within the ensuing hour, he was madly absorbing the mineral veins, accumulating over two tons of sand transformed from Golden Scale Celestial Iron.

Then suddenly, Duke heard some commotion from the mine tunnel ahead.

He instantly became vigilant, a pile of yellow sand appeared in front of him, which already looked somewhat darkened, hardly distinguishable from metallic granules.

Duke paid close attention to the mine passage ahead, where the urgent footsteps and rumbling sounds were coming from.

Both sounds captured Duke's attention, as he realized they signified two issues.

The first issue was the surprising presence of someone deep within these mining tunnels.

The second issue is that despite maintaining the structural integrity during the absorption of the mineral veins, the underlying rock layer, being whole, allows the stress distribution to flow.

Even if he sustained the structural integrity during absorption, he was unable to control the alteration of stress direction in the process.

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