Kyle listened to the golem’s explanation.
“Spirit Spring Ore is filled with Ether that can be digested by humans. This makes it very popular and valuable. It is found deep in hills and mountains in wildernesses where there is at least one Ferocious Beast present.”
‘Oh shit! That means there could be Spirit Spring Ore in our territory!’ Kyle thought.
“Spirit Spring Ore rarely grows below the surface due to other minerals absorbing the Ether. Where there is Spirit Spring Ore, there most likely are not many other minerals present, except for non-ethereal ores like Iron or Copper.”
“Spirit Spring Ore has a weak hold on its Ether, and anything that absorbs Ether can very quickly absorb almost all of its Ether. Because of that, mining it with modern mining tools is impossible. The mechanism that transforms Ether into physical power will absorb the Ether and make the ore valueless.”
‘Ah, that explains why it went dark! My hammer absorbed all of its Ether!’
“The best method of extracting a chunk of Spirit Spring Ore is with a primitive pickaxe made of iron. On the other hand, actually mining and properly refining the ore requires the use of a miner who can manipulate Ether with their Soul.”
Kyle frowned. ‘How do I use that? I mean, I know that the Soul essentially allows my Ether to interact with the surroundings and infuse tools with Ether, but how does that actually work? I’ve never done that.’
“A miner who can use their Soul adeptly needs to touch the Spirit Spring Ore with their hands and slowly shape it into crystal balls that can be swallowed whole. Making the crystal balls too big requires chewing, and when the ball is broken with the teeth, the majority of its Ether will disperse.”
“The shining core of the Spirit Spring Crystal has about 50% of the entire chunk’s Ether and can be overwhelming if consumed. Humans should not consume the core unless they are, at least, in the Second Realm.”
“However, the core can be used for a variety of purposes, like rituals, Spells, or creating tools.”
“Spirit Spring Ore counts as a Rank D material. Its core counts as a Rank C material.”
‘Now we got ranks for materials,’ Kyle thought. ‘Spirit Spring Ore sounds pretty good, but it only counts as a Rank D material. I guess it goes all the way from F to S or F to A. Not sure about that.’
Kyle waited for the golem to continue talking, but it seemed to be done explaining.
‘Well, I guess I should try mining it properly,’ Kyle thought as he scratched the back of his head.
He bent down and started to softly caress the ore.
“Come out. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.
Naturally, nothing happened.
‘How the fuck do I use my Soul?’ Kyle thought.
‘Maybe… I just gotta believe real hard?’
Kyle closed his eyes and tried to feel the Spirit Spring Ore.
As he moved his hand over it, he felt like it was warming up.
‘It feels… softer.’
Kyle imagined himself coaxing an injured rabbit out of a bush.
‘Come on. I’m not going to hurt you. Everything’s fine,’ he thought.
At that moment, he felt his arms heating up as well.
It felt a bit like he was doing sports but without the exhaustion.
It was weird.
The surface of the Spirit Spring Ore seemed to soften.
It was almost like it was turning into jelly.
Kyle slowly moved the jelly into a small shape.
Meanwhile, inside his mind, he saw many more rabbits in the bushes, and one of them was walking towards him.
‘You don’t have to be worried. It’s fine. I’m not going to hurt you.’
A small crystal ball came off the Spirit Spring Ore’s surface as Kyle saw the rabbit in his mind jumping into his arms.
‘See? That wasn’t so hard.’
In his mind and in the physical reality, Kyle turned around.
And bit the rabbit’s head off.
Well, in truth, he just threw the crystal ball into his mouth.
A feeling of achievement and victory rushed through Kyle.
‘I did it! Fuck you, shitty ass ore! You’re mine!’
As Kyle swallowed the crystal ball, he didn’t feel a lot.
But a couple of seconds later, his body started to relax.
Kyle felt like he was in a warm bath.
It was so nice and warm and comforting and oh yes… so good!
His face just grinned uncontrollably.
‘So good and tasty, mmmmhm.’
‘I’ll tell you. Fucking stones, dude. That’s the shit.’
After a bit, Kyle turned back to the big piece of Spirit Spring Ore and started to caress it again.
This time, he didn’t close his eyes, and he just looked at it with a greedy grin.
‘Come on. Just gimme a bit more.’
His arms warmed up again, and he saw the ore shimmering.
Then, Kyle’s hand buried into the ore like it was made of dough.
He took a big blob out of the Spirit Spring Ore, which rapidly solidified.
Naturally, that crystal ball was way too big to eat in one go.
Kyle grinned, and his arms warmed up again.
The Spirit Spring Ore turned into a viscous fluid while Kyle held it over his opened mouth.
As small drops of ore fell away from the bigger chunk, they solidified into tiny balls, which fell right into Kyle’s mouth.
A stream of goodness entered Kyle’s gullet, and he felt absolutely amazing.
‘I swear, Fantasy Land is made of drugs or some shit. The yellow powder in the stones gives me a shit ton of energy like meth or coke, while this stuff calms me down like I’m taking valium or something.’
After enjoying himself for a couple of minutes, Kyle looked at the beautiful cave again.
‘Yeah, as much fun as it is, I don’t think I can just keep eating this forever. I actually got a job to do.’
Kyle stood up.
“Back to work, boys. Break’s over!”