Chapter 325: Spirit Mine.

For a brief moment after Kael’s question, there was silence. Then Athom spoke.

"You see, kid, there are some treasures whose value doesn’t come from their ability to strengthen someone directly."

"Instead, their true worth lies in what they allow their owner to obtain."

Kael remained silent, listening closely.

"And the treasure that woman is holding belongs to that category."

Kael’s gaze sharpened. "What do you mean?"

Athom’s next words caused his expression to change entirely.

"That thing is a Spirit Mine."

Spirit Mine?

Kael silently repeated the name Athom had given it, his gaze still fixed on the strange metallic orb resting inside the compartment in Nora’s chest.

But didn’t she call it Prime Ore?

The difference in names made him curious, though he didn’t immediately press Athom about it. After all, he had no reason to believe the mysterious being had mistaken one treasure for another.

If there was anyone Kael trusted when it came to identifying extraordinary treasures, it was Athom. The old fellow might be incredibly irritating, and his habit of vanishing and resurfacing whenever he pleased was enough to make Kael want to curse him on more than one occasion, but there was no denying his knowledge or his capabilities.

Considering the sheer scale of Athom’s existence, Kael doubted something like this would fall outside his understanding. In fact, if there was a mistake anywhere, it was far more likely to have come from Nora.

Well, whatever. The name isn’t important right now.

What mattered was understanding exactly what the treasure could do, and fortunately, Athom seemed more than willing to explain.

"Kid, before you can properly understand the value of a Spirit Mine, there’s something you need to know about the laws governing existence."

Kael’s expression grew more attentive.

The laws?

"That’s right." Athom continued. "Everything in existence operates under certain laws. These laws don’t merely determine how energy behaves or how different forces interact. They also influence the creation and distribution of resources."

Kael listened quietly. He was already somewhat familiar with the concept of laws, Varek had mentioned them on several occasions before, particularly when explaining certain abilities and the restrictions placed upon powerful existences.

From what he already knew, it made sense that laws governing all of existence might also extend to something as seemingly mundane as the production of ores and minerals.

Athom went on. "Take a world capable of producing a particular rare treasure, for example."

"Under normal circumstances, the laws governing that world might only permit the treasure to form once every year."

Kael raised an eyebrow.

"That’s merely an example," Athom replied immediately. "The actual restrictions vary depending on the treasure, the environment, and the laws involved."

"Some resources might appear once every few decades. Others might require centuries, or even longer, before the conditions necessary for their creation can ever be fulfilled."

Kael nodded inwardly. That made sense.

There were plenty of resources he’d encountered or heard about that were extremely rare, so rare that even wealthy, influential organizations could pour enormous amounts of resources into searching for them without ever succeeding. He’d always assumed their scarcity came down to the difficulty of formation, or the dangerous environments they tended to appear in.

But apparently, there was another factor at play entirely.

The laws themselves.

"These restrictions exist to maintain balance and order," Athom explained. "If every world could endlessly produce treasures of the highest quality, the balance of resources throughout all of existence would look completely different."

His voice turned slightly more serious.

"Generally speaking, the higher the quality of a treasure, the greater the restrictions placed upon its creation."

Kael fell into thought. So that’s why certain materials are nearly impossible to find.

It wasn’t necessarily that the conditions required to produce them were entirely absent. In some cases, the laws themselves simply prevented those conditions from aligning too often.

That was an interesting concept, and if Athom was telling the truth, it also explained why certain treasures remained extraordinarily valuable even in worlds where powerful beings were commonplace. After all, no matter how strong someone became, they couldn’t simply conjure unlimited quantities of a resource if the laws themselves restricted its production.

At least, not through ordinary means.

Wait a minute...

Kael’s eyes flickered.

Ordinary means?

He suddenly had a feeling he knew exactly where Athom was heading with this, and sure enough, the mysterious being continued.

"Of course, those restrictions aren’t necessarily absolute."

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"There are certain methods, abilities, and treasures capable of interfering with the natural limitations imposed by those laws.Some can weaken those restrictions. Others can bypass them entirely, under the right circumstances."

Kael immediately thought of something. His Infinite Reward Multiplier, wasn’t his talent essentially doing something similar?

Under normal circumstances, a low-grade treasure stayed a low-grade treasure. Its quality might be improved through refinement, or by combining it with other materials, but those methods demanded resources, expertise, and favorable conditions, none of it came for free.

Yet his talent could simply multiply the quality of a reward outright, turning something ordinary into something extraordinary in an instant. An item that should have carried little value could suddenly transform into a treasure worth an unimaginable fortune, and depending on the multiplier involved, the resulting leap in quality could become completely unreasonable.

So my talent is also something that goes against the normal restrictions of the laws? Kael wondered.

Athom chuckled. "You’re finally beginning to understand."

Kael’s interest sharpened further.

Then the Spirit Mine...

"Exactly." Athom’s voice carried a clear trace of satisfaction now. "A Spirit Mine is one of those extraordinary treasures capable of bypassing certain restrictions placed on the production of resources."

Kael’s eyes sharpened. "More specifically, it possesses the ability to produce metal ores."

Produce them?

"Yes. And I’m not talking about the ordinary process of simply waiting around for mineral deposits to form naturally over time." Athom continued. "With the proper nurturing, a Spirit Mine can continuously generate various kinds of metallic ores, anything from low-grade materials all the way up to ores of exceptionally high quality."