The arrival of the master appraisers made the atmosphere even more tense.
Because a few of the managers had not kept their mouths shut, the news that the mithril mine might be congenital mithril had already spread. The difference between congenital mithril and acquired mithril was too great. As the exploration team that could get a share of the profits, the difference was like eating a large piece of meat and drinking a small mouthful of soup.
If the mithril mine was really congenital mithril, then the total value would not be 20,000, it might even be more than 200,000 — of course, it would be more troublesome to turn it into cash. It would take time to hype it up, and they would have to sell it in batches. It might take 10 or even 20 years to turn it all into money. But no matter what, they would get their share sooner or later. Even if they could not get their hands on it while they were still alive, they could pass it on to their descendants after they died. With the Republic of Northwest backing them, no one could deny them the money they deserved.
So everyone hoped that the mithril mine was congenital mithril. Thinking of the possible benefits, even Hoppes could not help but feel his heartbeat quicken and his breathing quicken. Only Du Du, the rich man who did not lack money, did not care. He even had the time to tease everyone about not paying too much attention to money.
But this was not a matter of not paying too much attention. It was a lot of money! If it was exchanged for gold coins, it would really be very heavy!
Hoppes' reply had caused everyone to burst into laughter.
In the midst of this nervous anticipation, the two master appraisers finally arrived. But because they were tired from the long journey, they rested for three days straight after arriving at the camp. They only set off for the cave on the fourth day.
This could not be helped. The two master appraisers were not young anymore. Traveling for seven to eight days in such cold weather really made them very tired. If they did not have a good rest, not only would they not be able to work, they might even fall seriously ill.
Fortunately, after sufficient rest, the two master appraisers' bodies had completely recovered. Then they followed the joint exploration team to the cave. Of course, they did not walk, but were brought along by others.
Of course, this could not be helped. The location of the cave was relatively remote, and the nearby mountains were steep. Even though the two master appraisers were considered healthy, there was no way they could enter. In fact, in the entire joint exploration team, there were only a few people who had the ability to climb into the cave.
This time, it was Clito who helped. The two appraisal masters were qualified enough for a Legendary powerhouse like him to help.
With his help, not only did the two appraisal masters successfully enter the cave, even Hoppes and the others did not have to expend much effort to enter the cave which was rather steep.
It was close to noon, the time when the sun was at its brightest. However, the inside of the cave was pitch-black. There was only some light near the entrance of the cave, and further in, it was almost impossible to see one's own fingers.
Back then, when Hoppes had come here, the situation here was similar. However, he had night vision. Even in this kind of environment, he could roughly see the surroundings, so he was able to explore smoothly.
Of course, the two appraisal masters did not have his ability to see in the dark. Therefore, Hoppes quickly took out the Sun Stones that he had prepared beforehand and embedded these stones, which could emit gentle white light like sunlight, into a few spots on the cave walls. They were like torches or wall lamps, illuminating the dark cave.
Under the illumination of the Sunstone, everyone could clearly see a large patch of bright silver light on the cave wall not far ahead.
That was a silver ore vein mixed with mithril. Although it was not a large patch, it was invaluable.
The two appraisal masters rested for a while, then took their tools and walked forward. They used small chisels to chisel out a few pieces of silver and gray ore from the wall, then used special tools to appraise them.
This appraisal took a few hours, and during this time, they did not even have lunch. It was only when the sun was setting that they completed the appraisal.
The two appraisal masters discussed for a while more and finally came to an agreement.
"It's natural mithril," they announced. "The amount is not high, but the quality is good. If we use magic, we should be able to extract it more easily — but the silver mine will be destroyed. "
Compared to mithril, silver was like mud to gold, especially since this was the most precious natural mithril. Therefore, no one cared about ordinary silver. If it was destroyed, then so be it. No one would feel pity for it.
The two appraisal masters completed the first step of their work, but they could not go back immediately. They still had to stay in the campsite for a while.
This was because the exploration team had to temporarily become miners, excavate the precious natural mithril vein, and let them appraise it bit by bit.
Natural mithril and acquired mithril were often found together. Even after they had been excavated, they had to carefully distinguish the two before they could actually start refining.
Only natural mithril with high purity would have slightly different properties from acquired mithril. Once impurities were mixed in, the difference would be greatly reduced, and the value would naturally plummet.
Therefore, the exploration team's plan was to excavate the ore bit by bit along the vein, making it as small as possible. Once they found a fork in the vein or other areas that might affect the purity, they would bring it to the two appraisal masters to confirm the purity of the ore.
This was reasonable. The high value of natural mithril was mainly due to the high difficulty of mining and refining.
Without a professional appraiser, it would be impossible to refine high-purity innate mithril!
Sui Xiong floated above the campsite and watched them busily working every day. They used those convenient small tools to excavate the rocks, excavated the silver ore containing mithril, and carried it back to the campsite on their shoulders. Then, they would carefully filter it. It was really like a group of ants moving houses.
Of course, the screening work could not be left to the two appraisal masters. Otherwise, they would not be able to finish it even if they had three heads and six arms. First, Hoppes and the other ore processing experts would carry out the preliminary screening, separating the silver ore from the mithril ore. At the same time, they would specially select the mithril ore along the vein and hand it over to the two appraisal masters for confirmation.
This was a meticulous job. By the time the vein was completely excavated, the appraisal work had not even been completed by one-tenth.
But what could they do? There was no easy money in the world. Moreover, for the sake of this batch of natural mithril, not to mention the exploration team, even the trade team that controlled this mining area had expressed that the exploration was not urgent and that the ore processing was the most important.
Of course, Hoppes and the others did not mind ore processing all day. After all, as long as it was a worthwhile job, it did not matter what they did. At least ore processing was easier than exploration.
Don't forget that what they learned was ore processing, not exploration.
Just when they were so busy that many people felt as if they were going to become cross-eyed, a shocking piece of news came.
An intense conflict had broken out on the border between the forces of the merchant party and the aristocratic party.
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