What is old is foisted around as ancient, what is ancient is buried or turned to dust. Too bad our modern magic relies on ancient materials.
Well, "turned to dust" wasn't accurate, just a generalization of the inherent destructive process. We excavators were drilling for ancient ice, buried under new ice that layered on top. This ice has not been exposed to the grinding of time, and probably will net quite a sum. To force our way downwards, we first heat a few hundred fireballs deep, then, if no accidents happened, we carefully excavate the rest with a pickaxe. At that point, the ice is perhaps 300 years old, and thus quite prone to disturbations from our mana. In case you ever wondered why you are not allowed to cast mana in the centre, this is one reason. The other reason, of course, was so the guards can identify attackers. But I digress.
Point is: The ice is ancient. And probably worth more than gold.
Beyond 500 fireballs there are too many problems to dig deeper. Even if the "only" hazard is ice, most intrinsic warming spells can't handle temperatures that cold, and any spells cast will result in a disruption, making this job rather unattractive to most people. Any that do have the ability to venture deeper make more money contracted to the state or the powers. I can handle 450 fireballs deep, and mostly pick out tier seven artifacts.
So, we have a somewhat steady supply of tier five to eight ancients. Tier eight of course is the most expensive. You can't judge the depth of an ice block just from the exposed surface, and eventually the hole is too large and taking more risks results in a cave-in. We seal up the hole with coloured water, and seal the surface. This is so that if we dig in the area again, we don't mistake it with fake ancient ice.
Typically, I will go deep into nirvana for three months, then take a three month vacation while my company looks for the next ice hole to burrow into.
The cold doesn't bother me, I have a dualcore fire ice, it's mostly the monotony that really eats away at me. No matter where you look, it's ice ice ice. At least the ice pays well.
And who is there to complain when I take some of the ice for my personal projects?
One of my projects was a fire golem. Cold fire. It's a surprising hit in Ashmael, turns out deserts are too hot even for fire dragons. I suppose some of them wanted friends over without them burning up. Can totally relate, and also makes for a cool look when they enter the place on fire.
Another is a convenience machine. I sent it to a friend I know, and he repurposed it a little. So, instead of just making coffee and cooling leftovers, he now has an ice golem.
Perhaps the golem could massage my shoulders? I should ask him to make one for me, I could use them down below. It sure would break up the monotony a bit, for the moments where I am too exhausted to safely move. And who is to say that I can't fiddle around with it myself? I don't know most golem stuff, but I can always make tools for it. Why don't more excavators—
Oh, I forgot.
It would interfere with the ancient ice. Drats.
Guess my personal golem is vacation purposes only.
