Go and meet the miner master, Duglas¶

Every wannabe Miner starts their career by visiting Duglas in East Castele . From Castele Square, head south into South Castele, then go east from the central crossroads.

Once in East Castele, continue east along the trodden path until you reach a set of minecart tracks leading south-east. Follow the tracks and you’ll find Duglas at the very end of the line.

Go and speak to Mary in the Artisans District¶

Before you can begin mining, you’ll need a pickaxe, but confused Duglas has left it at home. With Rocque in tow, head all the way north through East Castele, then turn left at the end into the Castele Artisans’ District .

After crossing the bridge, go south and Duglas’s House is the first building to your left. Carry on west past his house to his wife Mary, who’s drying the laundry. Speak to Mary to receive the Beginner’s Pickaxe from her.

Go and see Duglas¶

Mary didn’t seem very pleased with Duglas, but you’ve got you wanted, so return all the way back to Duglas in the south-east corner of East Castele. It’s a bit of a trek, admittedly, but the exercise will do you good.

Mine 3 pieces of Castele Copper¶

Duglas will teach you the Mining skill, which lets you equip pickaxes and mine for ore. Without further ado, open the Menu and navigate to the “ Gear “ section to equip your Beginner’s Pickaxe.

To see if you’ve got the talent, Duglas will give you a basic test: gather 3 pieces of Castele Copper from the nearby Copper Deposits. These are the orange-brownish rocks up the ramp to the north.

Mining for Copper is pretty straightforward. Approach a Copper Deposit and press the A button when you see a pickaxe prompt. Then repeatedly press the A button to hack away at the deposit and reduce its HP.

Once the deposit hits 0 HP, it will burst into ore that you can pick up with the A button.

Be aware that Mining consumes SP and if you run out you will do 0 damage. Fortunately, Rocque gave you two bottles of Spring Water , so go ahead and use those if you’re running out of SP.

Go and see Duglas¶

After you’ve gathered 3 pieces of Castele Copper, speak to Duglas to report your results.

If for some bizarre reason you were unable to find 3 pieces after breaking all the available deposits, you can also speak to Duglas to regenerate the deposits.

Speak to the merchant in the Artisans District¶

Your next lesson as a Miner is to sell your shiny ore for even shinier Dosh. Head back to the Castele Artisans’ District, towards where Mary was, but continue west towards the stalls.

Ores and Mine , which you’ve been asked to visit, is to the left of the Shady Shop, as you turn the corner. The shopkeeper there will happily accept your three pieces of Castele Copper in exchange for 60 Dosh .

In the future, you can directly sell your ores to any shop–it doesn’t matter which. Or you can keep them for when you’re a Blacksmith.

Go and see Duglas¶

While you were bartering, a woman by the name of Angela notices your impressive Mining skills and excitedly requests for you to dig up a rare and expensive Topaz .

However you’re still a rookie, so you should return to Duglas to get his opinion on the matter.

Go and speak to Molan in East Castele¶

Being an experienced Miner, Duglas knows a few tricks or two for finding rare gems. He suggests speaking to Molan the mole, just a few paces to the left, to see if there’s any chance of finding a Topaz in Castele.

Head behind the choir hall in West Castele¶

Molan indeed has some useful information for you: a Topaz might be located behind the choir wall in West Castele .

From where you are, head west into South Castele, then continue west into West Castele. It is another long walk, but it’ll be good for your leg muscles!

Next, follow the path up the ramp and left past the choir hall. The deposit you’re looking for is immediately to the right after going up the second ramp.

Mine a Topaz from behind the choir hall¶

It’s not just ore you can mine; you can also mine for precious gems, like Topaz, Rubies and Sapphires. These sell for a better price, but are harder to obtain.

You can find gems in regular deposits, like the Copper Deposits from earlier, although the chances are slimmer than slim. For a better chance, you’ll want to mine rare ore deposits like the one in front of you now.

Rare and higher level deposits have more HP, so just hacking away mindlessly is not an effective solution.

Instead, you’ll want to locate the deposit’s “ sweet spot “ by circling the deposit with the Circle Pad and attacking it from different angles. Altogether, there are 8 different angles you can attack from–above, below, the two sides and diagonally between.

You’ll know you’ve hit the sweet spot when your attack makes a distinctive “crashing” sound and deals higher damage than normal. Once you’ve nailed the sweet spot, continue attacking it and the deposit will be a goner before you know it.

Secondly, the rhythm of your attacks is very important. You may notice if you tap the A button quickly, your character will attack the deposit rapidly, but do relatively low damage.

However, if you slow down the button presses and find the right timing, your character will perform wider swings that cause considerably more damage. This is the key to effective Mining for the least effort.

Finally, you can obtain more ore from a deposit if you break the deposit with an exceptional amount of damage compared to the deposit’s remaining HP. In this case, an “Excellent!” message will appear after the deposit breaks.

A good way to do this is to carefully observe the deposit’s HP gauge. Then when the deposit’s HP is getting close to 0, start using weaker attacks until it’s almost 0, before finishing off with a powerful attack.

In any case, use all the knowledge you’ve just learned to break the Superior Copper Deposit and obtain your extra-special Topaz .

Go and speak to Angela in The Crown¶

Having achieved the unlikely, you should meet Angela at The Crown to fulfil your side of the promise.

To get there, make your way north through East Castele and turn right at the end to enter the Castele Shopping District . From there, head south from the fountain plaza, then go east through the back alleys.

The Crown is located at the end of the alley, by the water’s side and Angela is waiting in front of the stage inside. You’ll receive a Found Amethyst in exchange for the Topaz you uncovered.

Report back to Duglas¶

Now that you’ve completed your task, you need to report back to Duglas, who’s at his house in the Castele Artisans’ District.

From the entrance of The Crown, head north back to the open street, then east into Castele Square and further east into the Artisans’ District.

Next, go south towards the stalls and turn right after the corner, past Ores and Mine from earlier. If you remember, Duglas’s House is just around the next corner.

By the time you get back, Duglas and Mary’s marriage is on the rocks, but isn’t there a rock you can show to pull it back together again?

Success! You saved a marriage and earned yourself 500 Dosh in the process. More importantly, you’ll graduate from a Novice Miner to a Fledgling Miner . How extr-ore-dinary!