章 37: Great Harvest
編集者: EndlessFantasy Translation
The most important reason was the middle section of the mining area. Although it was the outer perimeter of the mining area, there were not much people there.
Miners without good piloting ability could not enter and would only mine nearby. Those with good piloting ability would not be interested in this area and would mostly choose to mine deep within the mining area. The middle section of the outer perimeter would instead become a blind spot.
Lin Dong maneuvered the explorer spaceship as he nimbly shuttled through the mining area. He picked out useful minerals and recalled the past at the same time.
He remembered that according to the original trajectory, a few months later, an old miner would discover a mineral gathering spot that contained mid-grade mineral crystals.
This old miner became rich overnight. He left the mining planet and headed to an even more prosperous planet to spend his remaining years in peace.
The news caused a sensation at that time. Lin Dong had also heard about it in the capital of Baron Soro's territory, the Sirius Star.
Since he was also an interstellar miner, he paid close attention to what happened next.
He was well aware of how that old miner obtained the mineral crystals and the gathering spot.
At that time, he was still thinking of purchasing some of mineral crystals. However, not long after that old miner left the planet, the goods in his hands were purchased by others.
Previously, Lin Dong did not immediately come over to search for the mineral spots.
A few units of mineral crystals could be taken away privately. They could be placed anywhere and it would be sufficiently hidden. If there was a large number of them, he would not be able to hide them well enough.
Lin Dong only started finding the mineral spot after he obtained the battleship and there was a place to store them.
However, the celestial bodies in the mining area of the asteroid belt were constantly in motion. Even if they knew the exact location, they would still need time to search nearby.
Lin Dong followed the movement pattern of the asteroid belt and entered the location into the ship's optical computer. Soon, he came up with 3 locations that were most likely to contain mineral crystals.
1 of the locations was located deep within the mining area while the other 2 were relatively close to Lin Dong.
5 hours later.
Lin Dong piloted the explorer spaceship and arrived at the 1st coordinate point. He used the mineral detector to conduct a scan.
Unfortunately, after scanning most of the surrounding celestial bodies, he did not find anything other than common ores and minerals.
Clearly, it was not here.
Lin Dong did not mind. He followed the navigation to the next location and calculated the time in his mind.
"I hope that the next location won't disappoint me."
He still had to conceal his identity as an interstellar miner, so he had to reserve the mining time. Furthermore, the mining time could not be too different from usual. With that, there was only enough time for him to explore 2 coordinates.
If he did not succeed in the 2nd location, he could only wait for the next time. However, the next time he came, he would have to calculate the location again.
Even though he would feel a little regretful, at this moment, the most important thing was to conceal his identity.
Lin Dong did not like this kind of luck-taking action. It was naturally best to settle it once and for all.
After 10 hours of piloting the explorer spaceship, he arrived at the second coordinate. 10 hours of non-stop control of the explorer spaceship caused Lin Dong to feel exhausted.
"The cultivation of the initial stage meditation technique can strengthen one's body and spiritual energy. Unfortunately, the entry level of the meditation technique requires the Starlight grass to be monopolized by the privileged. Without a suitable route, it will be very difficult to obtain it. Moreover, he was a miner. Once he was discovered, he would be in great danger."
Although Lin Dong clearly knew that as long as he waited for a period of time, his illegitimate child's identity would be acknowledged by Baron Soro. After that, he would immediately return to Sirius Star.
At that time, it would be very easy to obtain the Starlight grass.
However, Lin Dong still missed his strong body and abundant spiritual energy after he had cultivated the initial stage of the meditation technique.
He shook his head and withdrew his scattered thoughts. He skillfully opened the mineral detector and began to investigate the nearby area.
As time passed, the detector did not give any feedback, causing Lin Dong to raise his eyebrows.
Only when he found a rare minerals would he need more time to investigate.
If it was an ordinary mineral, he would be able to finish it in a few seconds.
Lin Dong waited for a long while before the detector finally gave him the data, which was displayed on the virtual screen in front of him.
"Thousand star ore!"
This was a rare mineral. Its surface was filled with tiny dots that were the same color as starlight. Other than being used as decorations, it was basically useless and therefore, it did not have a high value.
However, the interstellar miners were very fond of it.
This was because the interior of this mineral was usually wrapped with mineral crystals!
In Lin Dong's memories, 1 of the characteristics of that mineral gathering spot was the existence of the thousand star ore.
"Could it be here?" Lin Dong could not help but feel a little excited. He hurriedly controlled the explorer spaceship to get close to it and used the magnetic force to bind it. Then, he extended the mining equipment and began to split it apart.
Although he was excited, his hands were very steady. Before he was able to mine it, everything was unknown.
30 minutes later, Lin Dong used a small hand-made drill to cut open the last layer of the thousand star ore. Then, he looked at the fist-sized middle- grade mineral crystal within it.
Nearly 2 units of middle-grade mineral crystals!
In addition to the subsequent investigations, most of them were traces of thousand star ores.
Without a doubt, he had found the right place!
Lin Dong smiled. His hands sped up as he gathered all the nearby thousand star ores into the explorer's cargo spaces.
As for further cracking and gathering the mineral crystals within, he did not need to do all of these at the moment.
Time was precious. Hence, he could not waste all of it on the process of manual cracking, which required a long time.
As long as he first gathered the thousand star ores and transferred them to his Black Dragon, Lin Dong would have plenty of time to slowly carry out this procedure in the future.
Lin Dong only left this place after he had completely mined all the thousand star ores nearby.
The thousand star ore was likely to contain the most mineral crystals. However, it was also possible for the other minerals to contain mineral crystals. However, the probability was relatively small, and Lin Dong did not want to miss those. It was safest to take all of them with him.
Moreover, the surrounding minerals would also be affected if the spot was rich in mineral crystals. The possibility of containing mineral crystals was far higher than other places.
Lin Dong was still willing to spend this little time if it was just rough mining.
After that, he piloted the explorer spaceship and went to his Black Dragon. It had already been 5 hours later.
Lin Dong had unloaded over 100 tons of minerals that might contain mineral crystals into the Black Dragon's cargo spaces.
At the same time, he moved some of the more valuable minerals stored on the Black Dragon to the explorer spaceship. This time around, he had used up a lot of time to gather the thousand star ores. Therefore, he did not have enough time to mine. AS such, he decided to use this portion of storage as a normal harvest for this mining trip.
These minerals were prepared to be used to strengthen and upgrade the module of the Black Dragon. However, compared to the mineral crystals, they were nothing.
After a moment of hard work, the amount of minerals harvested was still a little less than usual.
Lin Dong still needed to collect some other minerals and ores.
He hurriedly rushed forward. Finally, before the normal mining time ended, Lin Dong had filled up 80% of the explorer's cargo spaces with medium and high value minerals.
If he did not fill up most of the cargo spaces, he would have a lot to answer for when he returned.
On his way back, Lin Dong bumped into a few mining spaceships.
While chatting with each other, Lin Dong received an interesting piece of news. Someone was offering a reward for all valuable information regarding the Spark battleship and its onboard module.
Due to the nature of their work, the interstellar miners were a relatively closed group. Hence, they would not interact with outsiders.
What they needed was exquisite mining skills, and it was more than enough for the mining companies to hire them.
For such a closed group to receive such an interesting piece of news, it meant that the person who placed the reward had spent a lot of effort to gather information, and was quite powerful. The person did not care about exposing their own existence.
Such behavior and actions caused Lin Dong to think of Sylvester Dan. It might be him.
-- 贈り物
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