The mining site wasn't far—it was located just a little north of the mountain, at the base of the foothills.
At first, Akimi thought mining wouldn't be all that hard.
He just needed to temporarily replace one of his current, unused skills with the mining skill, then start digging.
But once he actually got started, he realized something was off—although the ore that Haganezuka had specified could be mined from a single vein that yielded about ten pieces, so Akimi wouldn't need to constantly change locations, the ore's hardness was absurdly high.
It took at least over ten minutes just to dig out a single piece.
And the number that Haganezuka asked for was three hundred.
At this rate, even if Akimi worked non-stop without sleeping, it would still take over two days to finish.
There was also another issue caused by the ore's extreme hardness—the pickaxe's durability dropped at an alarming rate.
Akimi hadn't brought any mining tools with him in the first place, and the pickaxe he was using now had been quietly taken from Haganezuka.
So after digging only a few chunks, Akimi stared at the shattered pickaxe in his hand, falling into deep thought.
"…This is a problem."
Akimi sighed and scratched his head helplessly.
After pondering for a while, his gaze fell on the Nichirin Blade in his inventory.
"The Nichirin Blade is way sharper than a pickaxe, and has much higher durability—it should be faster to mine with this… right?"
No sooner said than done—Akimi pulled out his Nichirin Blade without hesitation and began hacking away at the ore.
To improve efficiency, he even activated his Breathing Techniques.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!"
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
"Water Breathing, Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin!"
----------------
As it turned out, the combination of the Nichirin Blade and Breathing Techniques was indeed much more effective than using a pickaxe.
What used to take over ten minutes to dig up a single piece of ore now only took a little over a minute.
Plus, Akimi found the Nichirin Blade much more comfortable to handle than a pickaxe.
While mining with the Nichirin Blade, Akimi even figured out a way to cut through the ore using minimal effort, which further improved his efficiency.
However, nothing in life goes perfectly forever.
Just like human strength, everything has its limits.
So, around 4 p.m., when Akimi was just about to finish the mining task, his Nichirin Blade broke.
With a crisp "clang!", the blade that had struck the ore snapped clean in two.
The ore itself only cracked slightly and then, along with the blade fragment, fell to the ground.
Akimi stared at the small piece of the blade still attached to the hilt, completely stunned.
He blankly glanced between the broken sword in his hand and the blue fragment of the blade on the ground with wide, dumbfounded eyes.
"Uh… it… broke? Just like that?!" Akimi muttered in disbelief.
"Now what…? Should I ask Haganezuka to fix it for me?"
"…Yeah, let's go with that."
Then he simply gave up and carried the mined ore back with him.
Ten minutes later, when Haganezuka saw Akimi return, he said in a mildly surprised voice, "Huh? You're back already? How'd the mining go?"
"All done…"
Haganezuka was even more surprised now.
He poked Akimi's arm with his finger and said, "Didn't expect someone with arms and legs as skinny as yours to mine this fast… How'd you do it?"
"Ahem… Well, it's nothing really… I just used my Nichirin Blade to mine…" Akimi coughed awkwardly and added, "Um… dear Mr. Haganezuka, your workload… might increase a little."
"You used your Nichirin Blade to mine?!"
Haganezuka angrily poked Akimi's forehead with his finger over and over again, shouting furiously, "You brat! How could you use a Nichirin Blade for mining?! Do you have any idea how precious those are?! You're supposed to treasure it!!!"
It took a while for Haganezuka's fury to subside.
Still grumbling, he said, "From now on, take proper care of your Nichirin Blade, you little punk… Wait, what did you mean by 'workload increase'?"
Akimi rubbed his nose sheepishly, then pulled out Nichirin Blade A, which only had the hilt, and Nichirin Blade B, which was just the broken blade.
Grinning apologetically, he said, "Well… besides reinforcing and forging a new Nichirin Blade… I'm also gonna need your help fixing this one."
When Haganezuka saw the two broken halves of the Nichirin Blade, he froze on the spot.
His neck creaked loudly as he slowly turned his head to stare at Akimi, then said, one word at a time:
"You—broke—the—Nichirin Blade?! Snapped—in—two?!"
Seeing the ominous black aura suddenly erupting from Haganezuka's body, Akimi was struck by an overwhelming sense of doom.
What happened next confirmed that Akimi's ominous feeling was absolutely right—Haganezuka suddenly pulled out a sharp kitchen knife gleaming with a cold light from who-knows-where and lunged straight at Akimi.
"I'll kill you… kill you… Anyone who doesn't cherish a Nichirin Blade should just die!"
Akimi quickly dodged to the side and tried to explain, "I didn't think the Nichirin Blade would break that easily! I didn't do it on purpose!"
But Haganezuka wasn't listening to a single word.
He kept muttering, "Kill you… kill you…" under his breath.
With his powerful arms and the eerie look of his Fire Mask, he seemed scarier than a demon.
As Akimi kept explaining while jumping and dodging, the chaos continued until Asuna finally came out of the kitchen with dinner and put an end to the wild chase between the two.
"He's supposed to be an NPC… so why does he feel like a real person… no, scarier than a real person,"
Akimi muttered in a shaken voice as he sat at the dining table, still rattled.
On the other side of the table, Haganezuka glared at Akimi with a murderous stare.
After dinner, Haganezuka shot Akimi one last vicious glare, then took the ore and the broken Nichirin Blade to the forge.
After a full night of forging and refining by Haganezuka, the next day, Akimi and Asuna received their new Nichirin Blades.
Asuna gazed joyfully at the silver-white thin-blade Nichirin Sword in her hand and said softly,
"Mm… I guess I'll still call you Radiant Silverlight from now on."
That's right—last night, at Asuna's request, Haganezuka melted down her original Radiant Silverlight sword into ingots.
Using that as material, combined with the Iron Ore Akimi had mined, he reforged it into a new Radiant Silverlight—Nichirin Blade type.
Akimi glanced at Haganezuka, who was looking eagerly at Asuna's blade, and threw cold water on his hopes without hesitation:
"Don't bother staring—Asuna doesn't know any Breathing Techniques. The Nichirin Blade won't change color."
Haganezuka shot him an annoyed glare, then looked back at Asuna's sword with visible disappointment.
Then, in a cold tone, he said to Akimi:
"If you ever break a Nichirin Blade again, I will kill you."
Akimi, still wearing a fake smile, admired the brand-new enhanced Nichirin Blade in his hand and responded with a halfhearted tone,
"Yes yes, I know. I'll definitely be more careful."
"Hmph!"
---------------
Exclusive access : 150+ch on paetron
Join now : patreon*com/DeCakraWnloverz