Chapter 597 - We've Been Tunnel Visioned

"We search for an ore or crystal vein and then check if the area near it has a high mana density." Evale replied, "If it has then we can suspect it to be a mana vein and magic materials being present, if not then we still have the normal ore to mine."

"Maybe we can use the undead to cut to the chase?" Eldrian suggested and quickly added pins to all the milling hordes, to ensure he didn't lose track of the locations after dealing with the undead. 

If each one had some type of metal or crystal vein and was in fact a mana vein, that would be a total of thirteen possible new magic ore or crystal mines. Eldrian had no idea how many mines were in the Kynigo region-- though since the siege all had been abandoned. Eldrian hadn't gotten to checking that situation out, as food and security were far more pressing. 

Regardless, he was certain this would be a game-changer. Especially in the long run if it panned out. 

And, in fact, they really needed a crystal mine, specifically for mana crystals, as their stockpile was quickly running low.

But he was getting a bit ahead of himself. It was almost just as likely that some mana veins simply appeared and disappeared peacefully. 

'I don't think each one can be an ore vein, it shouldn't... Maybe if they are really deep they could have not been discovered. And, what about the subterranean?' Eldrian pondered, "Evale, what do you think. Is it possible for so many ore or crystal veins to exist?"

She had thought similarly to Eldrian, that it was possible that not all mana veins always had to reach a critical level and violently explode. Instead, some simply died out after some time, never influencing the environment and thus never letting them know that they had existed. 

However, she also recalled a story told by parents to children. 

"There might be another explanation, I always thought it was just a story our kingdom passed through generations, a made-up myth about our origins. Though there are some things that support it, I always felt that it was glorified."

"After all, it feels more like a fairy tale than the truth..." She paused and asked, "Do you know how rare magic crystals are?"

"It is something that has been bothering me. How it can be one of the rarest things on the planet and still be everywhere?"

Evale nodded, indeed it should be strange to anyone. "It's true that magic crystals are extremely rare, they only form in very specific areas with an extreme density of mana."

'Like Avgi?' Eldrian wondered, recalling that the mana there was far denser than in normal areas. 

"The story goes that the capital, Taur, was established on an extremely dense mana vein. It is partly supported by the fact that we are an independent kingdom. However, I'm not sure if it is all to be believed..."

Eldrian thought on this for a moment and quickly connected the dots. "Are you saying all the other kingdoms get their magic crystals from somewhere? From the empire they are considered a part of? Is that the reason and how the empires maintain control?"

Evale nodded, "Yes, but there is more to the story. It praised Taurus as a kingdom blessed by the gods. Again, it is substantiated by a large number of minerals available near the capital. However, that only holds for up to the three dukedoms."

"Once you move past them the resources are no longer as rich. Or so we thought... It is why we are still only considered a kingdom, we didn't have the resources to raise our strength more. Our cities had to be reliant mostly on the dukes and king for high-grade resources."

Eldrian looked at the entire map of Taurus while trying to figure out how it was possible for a kingdom to miss so many veins.

If there were more than thirteen within just a hundred kilometers from Kynigo, there would be hundreds, maybe even thousands through the entire kingdom that spanned over 3000km north to south and 4000 west to east. 

The first thing Eldrian noted was that the land of Taurus was mostly flat, almost all plains for about a third of the land. He wasn't sure, but he felt this might be partly the reason.

He hadn't really thought about geography much before. Sure there were a few hills dotted about and a few mountain ranges. And the massive forest covering nearly a quarter of the kingdom in the other western area. 

In terms of mountains, there were two notable ranges. In particular, the massive mountain region to its west was more than three times the span of the Ganalin mountain range - the other notable range of mountains. Eldrian assumed that this much larger one must also be inhabited by dwarves. 

The mountain range was truly massive, and from it sprung a number of rivers that flowed into a massive lake spanning probably over 500km. The lake was in the center of the forest that covered this corner of the kingdom. 

'It is strange that the rivers do not flow to the sea, but the lake is massive. Plus, this world is so massive and I have no idea if there even is a sea and continents or if it is just one massive blob of earth.'

Outside of this particular forest and the truly massive mountain range, probably eighty percent of the kingdom was just plains. And finding an ore vein in a plain Eldrian assumed was far harder than by a river or near and in a mountain.

'Though I don't really know and I'm sure like we use chemistry, they could use some type of magic to detect the metal deposits. I can understand the finding of a mana vein being complicated, but testing areas of local soil and rocks shouldn't be that hard.'

'Anyone can simply collect it and then someone with moderate magic skills should be able to test all the samples in a day, a week at most.'

'Assuming that they do this, then it must mean that all these veins are too deep to leave evidence close to the surface. More complicated detection might be too time-consuming, or due to having a stable source near the capital they felt it was not needed or not profitable enough.'

'It is also always possible that they were discovered but considered too small a deposit that would not be worth the cost to excavate.'

'And it is also quite possible that their population is simply too small to be able to excavate all these locations. I mean, compared to Phallos, which occupies far less land than Taurus, Taurus has ten times fewer people than Phallos. So it is possible that they simply do not have the manpower to excavate each site."

'But given our situation now, the cost is no longer the problem as much as supply. Though manpower might be a problem...' Looking at the southwestern region, Eldrian got chills as his map showed clearly the cities that have been lost.

The entire corner of the kingdom was almost lost. Nearly as large an area as the massive western forest.

AN: A big thank you to everyone who continues to read and support the story on WN.