Chapter 287

The Skill Crystals Vein
Spreading out before us was the vein of Skill Crystals!
Bathed in the light streaming through the ceiling, it glimmers brilliantly.
All of these were Skill Crystals!

"Wow, what an impressive vein this is."

"Indeed. I've never seen anything like it."

Melanie and Plum murmured in admiration.
I see, so it's not usually this enormous.

"Still, this pillar that stretches up to the ceiling—this is part of the Skill Crystal vein too, right? How many crystals' worth could it possibly contain?"

"I can't say. But I’d guess it’s far more than a thousand."

"I see. So, Lily, what do you intend to do with this vein?"

What does she mean by "what to do"?
When I asked Melanie, she explained that it was a choice between keeping quiet about the vein or informing Marquis Vardmoi.
If I kept it a secret, I might be able to monopolize all the Skill Crystals in this vein.
However, if someone else discovered it and handed it over to a noble, I wouldn’t be able to use it, and I wouldn’t get a reward either.
Conversely, if I informed Marquis Vardmoi, I’d probably receive some kind of reward—though who knows if it’d match the value of this vein.
Incidentally, Melanie’s recommendation was to inform Marquis Vardmoi.
She explained that no individual could possibly use this many Skill Crystals, and even if we handed them over to Marquis Vardmoi, he’d likely let us keep a few for ourselves.
In short, even Marquis Vardmoi would have trouble managing this.
While it’d mean passing on the hassle to him, I think I’ll just let him handle it.

"So, are you going to figure out which skill each part of the vein corresponds to?"

"Can you do that, Melanie?"

"If you mine it, you’ll know. Just extract it carefully to get a fragment."

"Got it. I'll give it a try."

If it’s just about extracting fragments, my spear should do the trick.
Thinking that, I gave it a light tap, and a few fragments came loose.
Does this look about right?

"You did well. If the fragments are too small, they lose their effectiveness as Skill Crystals."

"You should’ve mentioned that first, Melanie."

"More importantly, hurry and figure out what Skill Crystal it is."

Though Melanie was urging me, she really should’ve told me about the fragment size earlier.
When I examined the Skill Crystals, I found out that this vein was a source of the "Adamantine Body" Skill Crystals.
Hearing this, Melanie froze.
It wasn’t just Melanie; everyone from the Wildcat Claws was frozen too.
Is it that rare of a skill?

"Rare doesn’t even begin to describe it! This is something the royal guard divisions of a nation would desperately want! Keeping this vein a secret is not an option!"

I see.
For me, it’s a miss since I was aiming for "Magic Sewing."

When I mined other parts of the vein, I found Skill Crystals for things like "Magic Blade" and "Magic Barrier"—all extremely rare skills.
Even checking the lake, there were Skill Crystals there too, forming another vein.
However, I couldn’t find the "Magic Sewing" I was looking for.
Hmm, a miss for me, I guess.

As I kept exploring, I came across a vein of Skill Crystals that had broken off into a chunk small enough to carry.
Whether it had detached from somewhere or was a unique piece, I decided to try extracting a fragment from it.

"… Found it! The Skill Crystal for Magic Sewing!"

It was a small chunk, but I discovered a Skill Crystal for the Magic Sewing!
I also found another chunk of similar size for Magic Weaving.
Glad it wasn’t a total miss.
Now, I’ll take samples of the Skill Crystals back and report to Marquis Vardmoi.
Finally, I can go home and have Amira learn the skill!

What do you think about this chapter?