Chapter 190: Golden Mithril from Another World

After hastily consuming a piece of bread, Kei finally felt the agonizing cramps in his stomach subside. He followed Linda over to Clark’s workstation.

Inside the workshop, Clark was hunched over, repairing a heavily battered piece of weaponry. The rhythmic pounding of a hammer echoed steadily across the chamber, occasionally throwing off showers of sparks where metal clashed against metal.

Kei refrained from interrupting. He stood nearby and observed for a beat, watching Clark meticulously straighten a warped sword blade, swap out a cracked alloy segment, and reinforce the seams. Not until Clark performed his final inspection on the weapon and laid it aside did Kei step closer.

"Clark, you mentioned earlier that you had something you wanted to show me, right?"

Even though Clark hadn’t elaborated, Kei already possessed a strong intuition regarding the exact nature of the object Clark intended to display.

"Indeed."

Clark wiped his hands, strode over to a nearby desk, and retrieved a small wooden box. He positioned it directly before Kei, then tipped his chin in a silent gesture.

"Go ahead and open it. What I wanted to show you is right inside."

Kei unlatched the lid of the box.

Resting within were two refined ore specimens. The metal gleamed with a silvery-white luster, its surface laced with delicate streaks of golden veins. Under the workshop illumination, they sparkled like threads of metallic silk intricately woven together.

Kei froze.

A pair of words instantly sprang unbidden to the forefront of his mind.

Golden Mithril.

This represented one of the rarest and most astronomical-priced metals native to his old world. It was typically reserved exclusively for fabricating luxury, high-grade magical gear restricted to nobility or royalty.

The Daniel armor gifted to him by the Temple prior to his expedition to vanquish the Demon King had likewise been forged straight from Golden Mithril.

So why on earth was this metal surfacing in this world?

Kei leaned in closer, his gaze locked intently upon the golden veins tracing across the ore. The instant he did, lines of tiny text abruptly materialized right before his eyes, mimicking system annotations.

[Golden Mithril]

[Grade Evaluation: S]

[An exceptional raw material for fabricating armor, weapons, jewelry, and miscellaneous magical items. Possesses superior mana absorption capabilities. Optimal forging temperature: 2,400°C...]

Kei dropped his jaw.

The lines of text kept scrolling onward. Characteristics, durability parameters, alloy compatibility indices, precautionary measures during smelting... the annotations ran so long he had to scroll down to review the entirety, spanning roughly two thousand characters in total.

"This..."

Kei blinked, yet the description remained stubbornly intact before his eyes, not a hallucination conjured by his own imagination.

For a fleeting second, Kei suspected he was losing his mind.

He recalled the peculiar skill that had recently surfaced within his Craftsman profession tree: [Hand of ???]. One of its partial descriptions noted that it deepened comprehension regarding all raw materials.

So that was how the skill operated; the moment he fixed his gaze upon a raw material, he instantly unlocked the exact operational data required to manipulate it correctly.

Kei tested his hypothesis by glancing sideways. Resting upon the workbench lay a bar of alloy Clark had utilized earlier to patch up armor. He focused his eyes squarely upon it.

Roughly ten seconds later, the familiar lines of text materialized once more before his eyes, meticulously detailing the compositional ratios and properties of that specific alloy bar.

Kei tightened his fist.

There was no longer any room for doubt. The [Hand of ???] skill granted him comprehensive comprehension of raw materials simply through observation.

Lifting his head, he met Clark’s gaze.

"Clark, do you happen to know where this ore sample was discovered?"

Clark shook his head.

"Thunder merely dropped off the ore sample. I haven’t established its exact extraction site yet, but it’s bound to be located dead inside that very Dungeon where Emma and Thunder went missing." He gazed down at the two metal fragments resting within the box, his expression darkening heavily. "This quantity of ore is barely sufficient to craft a diminutive dagger, so I haven’t attempted any fabrication yet. Moreover, Thunder remains unaccounted for... I’m in no frame of mind for smithing."

Kei snapped the box shut, carefully sliding it back across toward Clark.

"This is Golden Mithril. It boasts exceptional mana absorption, supreme durability, and broad alloy compatibility. If you intend to forge weaponry from it, I advise preserving the golden veins intact and avoiding prolonged heating. The optimal melting temperature sits around two thousand four hundred degrees."

Clark listened with rapt attention, his expression progressively morphing into an expression of bizarre disbelief as he stared unblinkingly at Kei.

"You managed to deduce all of that from a single glance?"

"I suppose it’s thanks to a newly awakened skill of mine," Kei offered a gentle smile. "Regardless, this ore volume is far too meager; for the time being, we should keep it securely stored away."

Clark nodded, accepting the box of Golden Mithril back. Kei bid him farewell and departed the workshop.

Upon returning to his temporary room, he discovered Kai waiting for him on the sofa. Set upon the table were two steaming hot meals, their inviting aroma involuntarily warming Kei’s chest from within.

"You’re back?" Kai surged to his feet instantly. "Come eat already. I’ve been waiting for you forever."

Kei stared at the neatly arranged portions and offered a soft smile.

"Thank you."

He seated himself beside Kai. A full day of grueling labor had left his stomach howling, so Kei stood in no ceremony, swiftly devouring his meal. As he ate, Kai chattered happily about various trivial anecdotes from the day. Kei listened attentively, chiming in with the occasional response.

Following dinner, he set his chopsticks down.

"Kai. I have something to tell you..."

"Yeah? What is that, Kei?"

Kai pivoted his head to gaze at Kei with innocent, luminous eyes.

"I’ve managed to pinpoint Thunder’s location, I need to find him in a Dungeon."