Through the magnifying glass, Hoppes scrutinized the piece of silver ore in his hand. He continuously rotated it under the sunlight and studied it from all angles.
After a while, he determined the quality of the ore through a strange reflection.
"Mithril, purity over 50%," he muttered to himself. He placed the ore into a wooden box on his left, then picked up another piece from the pile of ores in front of him and observed it carefully.
A few minutes later, he shook his head and mumbled "silver ore," before throwing the ore into a rattan basket in the distance.
This was an obvious difference in treatment, which stemmed from the world's difference in value between the two ores. Silver ore was not valuable. Even if it was refined into pure silver, it could only be used to cast silver coins. The piece of silver ore that he had thrown away could be refined into pure silver equivalent to less than ten silver coins. Taking into account the cost of refining and casting, the value of this item would not exceed two silver coins.
To Hoppes, two silver coins was really not considered a big sum. Usually, when he treated his friends to a meal, he would usually spend more than this sum.
But mithril ore was different. Even if the ore was acquired mithril ore with a lower value, after it was refined, its price would still be calculated in gold coins. Generally speaking, it would be roughly one gold coin per gram. The piece that he had just put into the wooden box could be refined into about 40 to 50 grams of mithril, which was equivalent to 40 to 50 gold coins!
If this was a primordial mithril ore, it would be even more impressive. It would be worth at least 200 gold coins. If it was made into a finished product, it might be worth 500 gold coins or even more, which was more than his monthly salary.
Different values naturally meant different statuses.
Just like ore dressing, these people from the exploration team could only assist the two appraisal masters in selecting materials and selecting the mithril ores from the silver ores. And the masters were responsible for selecting the primordial mithril ores from the mithril ores.
Different jobs led to different values, which also led to different statuses.
Hoppes and the other seven or eight ore dressing workers added up, and their salary was probably about the same as that of a master, and this was because they received a special field allowance from the Republic of Northwest. Otherwise, according to the standards of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, it might be equivalent to a fraction of that.
But Hoppes was not dissatisfied. You get what you pay for. They were only so capable, so naturally, they could only have such a high income and status.
For example, if a primordial mithril ore and an acquired mithril ore were placed in front of him, he would not be able to tell them apart no matter how hard he tried.
To distinguish these two ores, the most reliable way was to use magic. As long as he advanced the elementary spell Appraisal, he would be able to accurately distinguish between natural mithril and acquired mithril.
However, the advancement of appraisal art was an unconventional magic skill, which could only be achieved by Advanced Wizards. Making an Advanced Mage spend a lot of magic power to appraise a few ores every day? The upgraded Appraisal Spell consumed a lot of magic power. An ordinary Advanced Mage could only cast it five or six times a day, and each time, they could appraise two or three Mithril ores … Do you know how much it costs to hire such a Mage to cast spells?
If they didn't have any special relationship with each other, the market price for one Advanced Appraisal Skill would be around one thousand gold coins.
Compared to this, the salary of an appraisal master was nothing.
So Hoppes' good friend, Cambrona, had advised him more than once to practice hard while he was still young and strive to become a high-level Druid. When that time came, he would have money and status. How good would that be!
Among the Void Gods that the Republic of Northwest believed in, the God of Agriculture especially favored the Druids. At present, there were more than 20 high-level Druids under his command. In his church, there were not many priests, and the Druids were the main spellcasters.
The God of Agriculture promoted the advancement of agricultural technology, so that people could obtain more resources from the limited arable land. This greatly reduced the damage people caused to nature, and was praised and supported by most Druids. In particular, the faction of Druids who advocated "the harmonious coexistence of man and nature" saw the God of Agriculture as their idol. Almost the entire faction came to seek refuge with him, which made his church grow stronger in an instant.
At present, in the world, the most reliable way to learn the Druid's knowledge and skills was to come to the Republic of Northwest and join the God of Agriculture's church.
Hoppes had a good talent for natural magic, which meant that he could indeed develop in the direction of Druid. But he had no desire in this regard. If he could, he would rather be a ranger.
Druids were particular about many things. For example, they should not kill living creatures in pursuit of delicacies; they should use as few condiments as possible when eating; they should strive for simplicity; they should not wear woven clothes; they should not use metal weapons or armor; they should not live in prosperous cities for long periods of time; they should not participate in luxurious banquets or celebrations … and so on.
It was not that Hoppes could not do these things, but he was not willing to do so.
Those who could become Druids were those who sincerely yearned for nature, hated unnecessary formalities, were not interested in prosperity and pleasure, and focused on inner peace. He was not that kind of person.
"… It's silver ore again!" After throwing another piece of ore into the rattan basket in the distance, Hoppes felt a little tired. He stood up and moved around. He went to the pool to wash his hands and took a casual walk in the camp.
Ore dressing was a meticulous job that required one's full concentration. If he was not in a good state, it would affect his work efficiency and quality. So after working for a period of time, he had to take a break, move around, and take a walk.
Looking at his carefree manner, the workers from the Commonwealth of Gold Coins looked at him enviously.
The practices of the Republic of Northwest and the Commonwealth of Gold Coins were different. For example, in terms of the treatment of workers, the treatment of the workers in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins was far inferior to that of the Republic of Northwest. The difference was not only in terms of money, but also in each other's status.
For example, in this joint exploration team, there were also ore dressing workers sent by the merchants from the Commonwealth of Gold Coins. But when they were tired, they could not take a walk and rest like this. They could only lie in the tent and take a short nap before continuing to work.
Although everyone's income was linked to their workload, Hoppes and the others were not required to select a certain number of ores every day. If they did not care about their income being reduced, it would not be a problem for them to rest for a few days. Anyway, they could always get their basic allowance. But it was different for the workers of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins. If they could not complete the basic workload that they had to complete every day, they would not receive their full salary for the day, and a large part of it would be deducted.
Their salary was already far less than that of their counterparts in the Republic of Northwest. If their salary was deducted, it would be difficult for them to even feed their families.
What was worse was that their basic workload every day was calculated based on the most skilled workers. If ordinary workers wanted to complete this level of workload, they could only work overtime.
So no matter how much they envied Hoppes, there was no way they could imitate him.
Rest? They did not have the capital to rest.
"I keep feeling that the way the Commonwealth of Gold Coins is doing things is a little familiar …" Sui Xiong was invisible and floating in the air, watching the camp below. He scratched his chin with his hand and pondered silently. "Where exactly have I seen this kind of thing before? In real life? Or on the Internet?
"Anyway … I have a terrible feeling!"
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