The so-called open-pit mine was actually a very large mine pit. At this point, the mining methods were still rather crude, directly igniting explosives within the pit. When the explosives were detonated, the ground would split open, and then survivors were arranged to collect the resources.

The vast open-pit mine was divided into four areas, with mining taking place simultaneously in each. Once the four pits reached a certain depth, the collectors from all four areas would collectively retreat, then explosives would be placed in the central area. After detonation, they would collect the ore from the central region.

After understanding the collection process here, Dong Tianyu found his father, Mr. Thompson, in a tent near the mine pit. Mr. Thompson was leisurely playing cards with a few officers at that time.

The place was actually very safe. Whether it was the Giant Scorpions that had appeared long ago or the ancient creatures that emerged during the catastrophe, these monsters, although not very smart, all possessed at least a basic level of intelligence and did not behave like NPCs spawned in a game.

The mine pit was constantly detonating explosives, and the intense noise would drive them away from this area.

Even if one or two creatures that were not afraid of the noise were attracted by it, they would quickly be killed by the patrolling soldiers surrounding the area.

Therefore, Mr. Thompson’s mission here was not particularly dangerous, or to put it another way, the most dangerous moment was actually during their journey here, when they might have been attacked by some ancient creatures or Giant Scorpions.

But once they arrived and set up camp here, the danger significantly decreased.

The collectors in the mine pit would transport the raw ores they had gathered to the outside of the pit, where three mounds had already been piled up near the mine.

Besides the mounds of ore, there was also a rudimentary smelting plant by the side of the pit. This crude smelting plant could carry out the first step of refining the collected raw ores.

After the rough refining process, the ores turned into Metal Ingots that still contained many impurities.

And these Metal Ingots were the objective of Mr. Thompson’s mission this time. Although it was unclear exactly how many Metal Ingots they needed to collect, seeing the neatly stacked Metal Ingots in the wooden carts—already amounting to five full carts—it seemed that the amount was still insufficient.

Looking at the roughly refined Metal Ingots, although there was no one guarding them, Dong Tianyu did not casually ’borrow’ a few.

Seeing the neatly stacked Metal Ingots and knowing no one was watching over them, Dong Tianyu was aware that each one had been accounted for with specific quantities, so he did not touch them.

However, not touching the Metal Ingots did not mean Dong Tianyu wouldn’t help himself to other items. After all, it was not quite proper for Dong Tianyu to go into the mine pit to dig, even though his collection speed would definitely surpass anyone else’s.

Therefore, the raw ores that had just been collected became Dong Tianyu’s best target. After casually taking some from the belly dump, Dong Tianyu immediately left the area.

After finding a spot to settle, Dong Tianyu entered the Cave and took out the ’borrowed’ raw stones from the Storage space. He then directly used the Cave’s ability to decompose and absorb them.

Among the raw stones, stone materials undoubtedly had the highest content. However, what surprised Dong Tianyu after the decomposition was that even the most common stone materials, which were in the greatest abundance, were not as he had imagined.

The stone materials that were stripped away and absorbed during the decomposition process also contained a trace of spirituality, and although it was minimal, there was indeed spirituality present.

This was similar to gold ore, where if the stone contains gold, it is possible to extract it using various means no matter how low the concentration is. However, if it does not contain gold, no amount of effort or cost can produce it.

Others might need to pay various costs to refine the ore, but Dong Tianyu did not need to pay any cost while absorbing it in the Cave. With just a thought, the various minerals contained within the original ores were directly absorbed by the earth’s veins, and the metals formed various high-quality raw minerals in their own respective categories.

Among the raw stones that Dong Tianyu decomposed, aside from the stone materials with the largest content, the next most abundant was iron ore.

Like the stone materials, the iron elements in the ore also contained a spirit charm. Although it was also minimal, it was still different from the ordinary iron ore before the catastrophe—there was a difference between zero and one.

With this difference, if Dong Tianyu learned Artifact Refining, he could already use these spirit-charm-containing iron ores to craft Spiritual Artifacts. Although with the spirit charm contained in these iron ores, at most he could only craft low-quality Spiritual Artifacts, it was still a world apart from Magic Artifacts.

After obtaining this information, Dong Tianyu thought of the sniper rifle that Elder Jefferson had assigned to him, took it out, and used the Art of Controlling Objects on it.

Indeed, the results were as Dong Tianyu had guessed. The materials used in this sniper rifle were very suitable for Artifact Refining.

Although in Kyoto they did not know how to refine artifacts, they had already technologically refined and purified the raw materials multiple times. The technological side of processing did not affect the mystical side of crafting.

Just like an item that, regardless of how its physical form changes, its chemical formula remains unchanged.

But Dong Tianyu did not yet know how to refine artifacts, so although he knew that the materials used in the production of the sniper rifle in his hands were good base materials, he did not have the ability to continue crafting.

After casually decomposing the remaining iron ore, Dong Tianyu opened the Data Layout and saw that after absorbing these raw stones, the Cave’s upgrade progress had slightly fluctuated.