Chapter 1047
A loud noise rang out as Durff’s hammer struck the rock wall… but while it was certainly a greater volume than the other miners, he only released a few fist sized chunks. He tried again, managing to break off a larger chunk.
“Hmm,” Durff said, turning to a man who was working nearby. “Are those picks expensive? Can I borrow yours for a minute?”
The man looked to Runa. “Vice head?”
“They’re basically compressed steel,” Runa shrugged. “It doesn’t cost us much to replace them. Go ahead.”
The man handed over his pick, and Durff hefted it. “It’s a bit heavier than it looks,” he commented mostly to himself. He moved back to his position and took another swing- his comments on weight not seeming to limit his swing at all. The pick stuck deep into the rock face. He yanked it free, but didn’t really do much in the way of dropping rock.
“If you aim for some weaker seams, you can chip off bits at a time,” the miner explained. “And if it goes a bit deeper you can sometimes lever it to pull out more.”
“Oh, I see,” Durff nodded. He swung once more, the pick sinking up to its full length again. His muscles flexed, and he tore out a chunk of rock the size of his torso as he levered the pick.
“... Usually it’s not quite that deep,” the other man commented.
Durff looked at the pickaxe, which was undamaged. “It’s very solid. That’s good.” He then repeated the process several times, pulling down more and more chunks until he couldn’t reach the wall because of the rubble. After that, he stacked up the big chunks of mixed rock and ore, walking over towards the nearest minecart. “Now this is heavy,” he said.