Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Article Name: Work Records on the Shattered Stone Star Domain

Release Date: Sixth Era, May 4, 1014, Crystal Platform

Publisher: 'Vels' Mining Company C2 Level Technician, Eillie

Status: Locked and Archived (When AI Palette detects identical text, it will automatically delete and block it from the Internet)

Content:

In 992, I followed my father to live in the Central Star Domain. In 998, I entered a decent university, and in 1003, I started working at the renowned 'Vels' Mining Company. After two years of work, I applied for a transfer to the Northwest Star Domain. From 06 to 11, I worked in the 'Black Sea-Σ' of the Shattered Stone Star Domain.

When friends and family learned I was transferred to the remote Northwest Star Domain, they were very anxious at first due to the poor living conditions and rumored instability there. In reality, these five years were the most relaxed and comfortable days of my career. For those of us dispatched here from the Central Star Domain, salaries doubled, and with various subsidies, the actual pay could be 3-5 times that of our Central Star Domain peers.

Although occasionally working overtime, the climate here isn't as harsh as imagined, and the workload isn't much heavier than in the stable Central Star Domain. Plus, after working a month, we get three months off. So, effectively, I work 4 to 5 months a year and earn five times the salary, merely enjoying sun and wind while putting up with a lack of exciting entertainment or attractive women, resorting to playing games in a game pod. Moreover, promotions are prioritized, making it truly lucrative. Therefore, some colleagues in the know compete to be sent here, while we, who arrived first, hold on and find reasons to stay, refusing to leave even when promoted.

We were very safe in the Shattered Stone Star Domain. During the civil war, the mines here weren't destroyed; most were transferred to official control, and after the war ended, they were handed over to 'Vels' and other Giant Businesses victorious in the civil war. Originally, 80% of local engineers here were dismissed, leaving only a few for essential handovers. They signed new contracts with the company and arranged for their families to be relocated to the safe Central Star Domain. These engineers were genuinely thrilled and diligently undertook a large amount of work, leaving us formal employees just to clap our hands.

Ordinary people might not realize how valuable a premium Transcendent mine is. Initially, during its development, when each drill yields all effective ores, that's when profits are highest and costs lowest. As development progresses, the high-purity ores of the main vein reduce, and only sparse peripheral vein branches can be mined, requiring substantial effort for refining and impurity removal. When impurities reach a certain level, profits dwindle, and we have to seal the mining area.

Globally, most mining areas and oil fields are like this, with extraction only comprising a small part of total reserves. Undeveloped sections remain purely due to cost, with high-profit, low-cost mining areas and oil fields being vital assets for the company. In this era, established mining companies have evolved into asset management enterprises. Our task is to procure high-return mines with low bids, fiercely develop during high-profit cycles, and sell them to other naive buyers when profits decline, focusing funds on the next high-profit mine.

How to acquire excellent mining areas or oil fields cheaply is indescribable, yet in this era, it's almost inseparable from corruption. Truly premium mines are virtually unattainable through pure market trading. Newcomers can only purchase mines with reduced profitability and returns post-extraction. Competing with us established businesses is thus nearly impossible for later entrants.

I think this is why many new companies prefer investing heavily in new material research rather than pursuing good but existing special materials, as many nodes are controlled and blocked by monopolistic Giant Businesses under current regulations. Like during the civil war, the Giant Business Alliance of the Northwestern Region controlled the Obscure Six-Dimensional Crystal Battleship Central Axis Main Gun technology, forcing the Southeastern Region Coalition to develop new battleship main guns in the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain since the mines producing Obscure Six-Dimensional Crystal are almost all in the Northwest Star Domain, controlled by local Giant Business Alliance.

Working at the mines in Shattered Stone Star Domain posed no safety concerns. We departed from the residential base by vehicle, transferred to cars or small shuttlecrafts upon arrival at each work site, with security personnel escorting throughout. I found this escort unnecessary, eventually leading the company to cancel it. With the civil war victory, despite the emergence of several armed rebel factions in the Northwestern Star Domain over the past century, these small groups couldn't overturn the situation. Slightly larger armed forces would be targeted by starships in orbit, with the whole Star Domain under satellite surveillance.

Once minerals are extracted, they undergo simple separation and purification, then transported by train to the central space elevator, where they can be transferred into Star Harbor and sent to the Central Star Domain. This area is much safer than bustling regions within the Star Domain. I recall once during a business trip to the Capital District, facing the local resistance group's terrorist attack, even the railway tracks were bombed. Such occurrences are unlikely here.