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Mining System

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# Mining System - Complete Guide


The Mining minigame is a match-and-cascade puzzle game where you swing pickaxes at an 8×11 grid of rocks, gems, and ores. Resource tiles give fragments of one of six resources, and chaining the right tiles together creates explosive cascades that can destroy half the board in a single click. With three pickaxes that each behave differently and rare key items hidden in the rubble, mining is one of the most resource-rich activities in Chronoromancer.
This guide covers everything: how to start, the three pickaxes and what they do, every tile type and what it gives you, the cascade and chain-reaction system, key item stones, and where to find more pickaxes outside of mining itself.


Quick Start

The native mining board, six fragment pools, Energy items, and three pickaxe selectors.
This is the Mountain Foothills Mining minigame. Gem’s separately taught Mining skill is used to mine dungeon walls and is not required to play this puzzle.
To start mining you need exactly two things:
  1. At least one pickaxe of any kind in your inventory (new games start with 1 iron pickaxe)
  2. At least 30 Energy for entry, then at least 10 Energy for each swing
Travel to the Mountain Foothills in the Medieval era (Village Outskirts district) and use the Mining action. The minigame opens immediately. Each entry costs 30 in-game minutes and 30 Energy. Bring at least 40 Energy to enter and immediately make one swing, or use an Energy item after entry. If you have zero pickaxes, the action will be greyed out.
Tiles are clicked one at a time. Every click costs 1 of your selected pickaxe and 10 energy. Rocks break, gems sparkle, and you collect fragments toward six different ingots and gems.

Locations

Mountain Foothills (Medieval Outskirts)

The only location where you can mine. The path to the foothills is also where you'll find Gem, the dwarven miner who lives here from 7 AM to 5 PM. Mining itself doesn't have a time restriction — you can swing your pickaxe at any hour of any day.
Gem also sells bundles of 5 iron pickaxes for $200, once per day, as a shopping action at this location. If you ever run dry on iron, this is your reliable source.

The Three Pickaxes

You start with the iron pickaxe and earn the others through play. Each one has a different role.

Iron Pickaxe (default)

The basic pickaxe and your bread-and-butter. Hits any normal tile for 1 damage per click. Cannot break bedrock or glass cubes.
  • Strength: 1
  • Special: None
  • Best for: Everyday mining, breaking basic rocks and gems, triggering cascades

Copper Pickaxe

Stronger than iron, and crucially, the only pickaxe besides diamond that can break bedrock.
  • Strength: 2 (each successful swing deals 2 damage)
  • Special: Breaks bedrock in one click
  • Best for: Clearing bedrock when it's blocking a good cascade, finishing tough multi-hit tiles faster

Diamond Pickaxe

The premium tool. High damage per swing, breaks anything, and always triggers a bonus hit on a random adjacent tile every time you click.
  • Strength: 5 (each successful swing deals 5 damage; stones and enhancements still need substantial damage)
  • Special: Breaks both bedrock and glass cubes in one click
  • Bonus hit: Every click also damages a random adjacent tile (any of the 8 surrounding tiles, including diagonals) for full 5 damage. The bonus does NOT consume an extra pickaxe — it's free.
  • Best for: Tough multi-hit tiles like rose gem, queenstone, and the rare key item stones. Also amazing for cleanup since the bonus hit can chain into matches.
The bonus hit is the diamond's signature move. If your bonus hit lands on a power-up, that power-up triggers immediately. If it lands on bedrock or glass, those are destroyed too.

Switching Between Them

You select your active pickaxe from the three squares at the bottom-left of the mining screen. The selected pickaxe has a yellow border around it. A pickaxe that has run out of charges goes grey and can't be selected.
You can switch pickaxes between any two clicks — there's no penalty for swapping mid-session.

How a Mining Session Works

An accepted swing costs one selected pickaxe and 10 Energy, even if the target survives. Clicking during animations, with an empty selected tool, below 10 Energy, or on bedrock/glass with an unsuitable tool does nothing and spends nothing. Matches and power-up chains caused by that swing cost no additional tools or Energy.
When you click a tile:
  1. The selected pickaxe loses 1 charge.
  2. You lose 10 energy.
  3. Your pickaxe swings (animation plays on the clicked tile, and on the bonus tile if you're using diamond).
  4. The tile takes damage equal to your pickaxe's strength. If it breaks, you get its rewards.
  5. Tiles fall down to fill the gaps (gravity), and new tiles spawn at the top.
  6. The game checks for matches — lines of 3+ identical basic tiles break together: rock, gold, metal, coal, emerald, ruby, or iron. Rare high-HP tiles do not form ordinary match lines.
  7. Cascades continue as long as new matches keep forming after gravity.
A single click can sometimes trigger an enormous chain — gravity refills, a new match forms, that match damages neighbors, those neighbors include a power-up that explodes, the explosion clears more tiles, gravity again, another match, and so on. This is where mining gets genuinely fun.
A session ends when you click the X at the top-left, press ESC, or press Space. Your collected fragments, whole resources, remaining pickaxes, acquired stones, and awarded stone levels remain. The board and visit-specific discovery progress do not carry into the next visit.

The Mining Screen

Top Bar

  • X close button (top left) — exits the session at any time.
  • ENERGY X/Y — your current energy versus your maximum.
  • Energy resource icon — clickable to spend one of your stored energy items, restoring 25 energy (or 50 if you have Willow's Enhanced Healing). The number next to it shows how many you have left.

Left Side

Six rows showing your current totals for each resource:
  • Iron Ingots: X — Fragments X/100
  • Silver Ingots: X — Fragments X/100
  • Mithril Ingots: X — Fragments X/100
  • Mineral Clusters: X — Fragments X/100
  • Crystals: X — Fragments X/100
  • Gems: X — Fragments X/100
Every 100 fragments rolls over into +1 of the whole resource. The fraction counter resets to 0 (or to the leftover, if you got more than 100 in one go).

Bottom Left

The three pickaxe selectors. Iron on the left, copper in the middle, diamond on the right. The selected one has a yellow border. The number on each shows how many charges you have.

Right Side

The 8×11 grid where the action happens. Multi-hit tiles show a small remaining-HP number after they have taken damage. The grid has 8 rows and 11 columns (88 positions).

Tile Types and Rewards

The current grid can spawn 33 tile types: 22 regular group-spawned tiles, bedrock, seven rare key item stones, and three Soul Stone enhancement tiles. Enhancement tiles require ownership of at least five distinct Soul Stones. Here's the full list and what each one gives when consumed.

Mineral / Rock-type Tiles

Tile HP Reward
Rock 1 1 fragment: 50% iron, 40% silver, 10% mithril
Iron Ore 1 +1 iron fragment, 10% chance of 1 random other resource
Gold 1 +1 iron, +1 silver, 10% chance of 1 random other
Coal 1 +1 iron, 15% chance of 1 mithril, 10% chance of 1 gem
Metal 3 3 fragments, each randomly chosen between iron / silver / mithril
Metal Star 3 +2 iron, +2 silver, +2 mithril, +1 random of cluster / crystal / gem
Metal Fragments 8 +1 iron, +1 silver, +1 mithril
Molten 5 +2 iron, +1 silver, +1 mithril, 40% chance of 1 random of cluster / crystal / gem
Bedrock special 2 fragments, each independently random across all 6 resources
Bedrock cannot be broken by iron — only copper or diamond — and four of them spawn at the start of every session as obstacles. During gravity refill, new tiles have a small 1.5% chance to respawn bedrock while fewer than four bedrock tiles are currently on the board.

Gem-type Tiles

Tile HP Reward
Emerald 1 +1 cluster, 40% chance of 1 random of crystal / gem
Ruby 1 +2 cluster, 20% chance of 1 random of crystal / gem
Rainbow Gem 15 +3 cluster, +1 crystal, +1 gem
Rose Gem 30 +1 of all 6 resources
Iridescent 25 +2 of all 6 resources
Iridescent and rose gem are the jackpot tiles — destroying one gives a chunk of every resource simultaneously.

Crystal-type Tiles (Panthers)

Tile HP Reward
Panther Green 10 3 fragments, each random from cluster / crystal / gem
Panther Blue 10 3 fragments, each random from cluster / crystal / gem
Panther Pink 10 3 fragments, each random from cluster / crystal / gem
All three panther tiles are functionally identical for rewards — only the visuals differ.

Special Tiles

Tile HP Reward
Energy 1 +40 energy (capped at your max)
Repair 1 +3 of whichever pickaxe you used to break it
The energy tile is hugely valuable — net gain of +30 energy after the 10 energy your click cost. The repair tile is one of the only ways to passively replenish your pickaxes mid-session.

Power-Up Tiles

Tile Effect
Bomb 3×3 explosion centered on the bomb
Fireblock Destroys the entire row
Magic Cube Destroys the entire column
Power-ups don't have rewards themselves, but the tiles destroyed by their blast all give their normal rewards. Power-ups inside another power-up’s affected area trigger in the same chain. Basic tiles break immediately; high-HP tiles take 15 damage and give rewards only if destroyed. Bedrock and glass are unaffected.

Indestructible Tiles

Tile Notes
Glass Cube Only diamond pickaxe can break it
Bedrock Only copper or diamond can break it

The Six Resources

All mining rewards funnel into six resource pools, each tracked as fragments (0-99) and wholes:
  • Iron Ingots — basic crafting metal
  • Silver Ingots — mid-tier metal
  • Mithril Ingots — premium metal
  • Mineral Clusters — concentrated mineral matter
  • Crystals — magical resource (also goes into your main inventory)
  • Gems — premium magical resource (also goes into your main inventory)
100 fragments of any resource = +1 whole of that resource. Crystals and gems show up in your main inventory immediately. The four ingot/cluster types are stored under "Mining Items" in the Supplies inventory screen.

Cascade Matches

After every successful click, gravity drops tiles down to fill empty spaces and new tiles spawn at the top. Then the game scans for straight lines of 3 or more identical basic tiles, horizontal or vertical only — diagonals don't count.
If a match is found:
  • All matched tiles are consumed (you get rewards for each)
  • Orthogonally adjacent tiles (above, below, left, or right) take damage based on match size:
  • 3-match: 5 damage to adjacent multi-hit tiles
  • 4-match: 10 damage, AND adjacent repair / energy tiles are also consumed
  • 5+ match: 25 damage, repair / energy still consumed
  • Adjacent power-ups in the blast zone are triggered, kicking off a chain reaction
  • After everything settles, gravity runs again and another match check happens — cascades can chain indefinitely
Note that the match-adjacent damage only hits multi-hit tiles (the ones with HP), repair / energy tiles (only on 4+ matches), and power-ups (always triggered). It does not consume basic tiles like rock, gold, coal, etc. — those only break from direct clicks or being in the matched line itself.

Wild Rocks

Once your cascade reaches its 3rd round and beyond, a special rule kicks in: rocks become wild.
A rock tile becomes a wild substitute if it has at least one neighbor (in any of the 8 surrounding tiles) that was consumed earlier in this same cascade chain. Wild rocks count as coal, iron, or metal for the purpose of forming a match line.
So during a deep cascade, lines like rock-coal-coal, rock-iron-rock-iron, or coal-rock-rock-coal-coal can all match — provided the rocks are next to recently-broken tiles.
This is what makes deep cascades so explosive. As more tiles break, more rocks become wild, which creates more matches, which consume more tiles, which makes more rocks wild. Once you start a long chain, it tends to keep going.
Pure rock-rock-rock lines still match as a normal rock match (no wild logic needed). Lines with non-WILD_MATCHABLE basics like gold, emerald, or ruby don't accept wild rocks — they have to match exactly.
The wild status resets when your full cascade finishes; on your next click, it starts over from depth 1.

Power-Ups

The three power-up tiles are your ticket to massive cascades. They can be triggered three ways:
  1. Direct click — costs your pickaxe charge and 10 energy as normal
  2. Diamond bonus hit — your diamond's adjacent random hit can land on a power-up
  3. Cascade adjacency — when a match forms next to a power-up, the power-up fires automatically (free)
When triggered, a power-up calculates its full chain reaction upfront, then plays out the animation. If the blast zone hits another power-up, that one triggers too — and so on, recursively, all in one calculation. A bomb next to a magic cube next to a fireblock can clear half the board with a single click.

Bomb

3×3 explosion centered on the bomb. Hits the bomb itself plus the 8 surrounding tiles.
Deep cascade bonus: If a bomb is triggered while your cascade is at depth 3 or higher (the same threshold that activates wild rocks), the bomb's blast also destroys every coal tile on the board. Each coal still gives its normal reward, the gaps left behind can form new matches, and any power-ups adjacent to those destroyed coal tiles get triggered too — sometimes leading to genuinely board-clearing chains.

Fireblock

Destroys every tile in the same row.

Magic Cube

Destroys every tile in the same column.

What Power-Up Chains Destroy

Power-up chains affect every tile in their blast except for bedrock and glass cubes (those are skipped). Multi-hit tiles take 15 damage per blast and break if reduced to 0 HP. Basic tiles, other power-ups, repair, and energy are consumed immediately. Key item stones and Soul Stone enhancements are high-HP tiles: they take 15 damage once per affected position in that calculated chain, including overlapping blast areas, and reward you only when their HP reaches zero.

Key Item Stones

Seven rare and powerful key item stones can spawn during mining. Each is a unique key item that goes into your permanent collection. Most have 200 HP, while Queenstone and Aether Stone have 400 HP, making them tough to break — diamond pickaxe is highly recommended.
The seven mining stones:
  • Queenstone Queenstone
  • Swordstone Sword Stone
  • Brute Stone Brute Stone
  • Balance Stone Balance Stone
  • Elemental Stone Elemental Stone
  • Twilight Stone Twilight Stone
  • Aether Stone Aether Stone

Spawn Rules

  • Each ordinary group-generation roll has a 0.013% key-stone slot before pity/priority rules. A swing may refill many tiles, so this is not a per-click chance.
  • Once any one of the seven spawns during your session, no other key stone can appear until you exit and re-enter the minigame
  • Stones you already own will never spawn again — once you have it, it's permanently filtered out
  • If you somehow own all seven mining stones, no key stones will ever spawn
When a key stone is consumed, it's added to your key items list and a celebratory chime plays. All seven mining stones are upgradeable and start at level 1 when first acquired.

Strategy for Breaking Them

200 HP is a lot. With diamond pickaxe (strength 5), that's 40 direct hits — but you can speed it up considerably by:
  • Using power-up chains to land 15-damage hits on the stone
  • A Diamond bonus hit can chip at a stone while you click a neighboring tile. It always targets a different position, so it cannot hit the same stone twice in one swing.
  • 4+ matches adjacent to the stone deal 10–25 damage per match
  • Iron and copper still work, just much slower
If a stone spawns and you're low on diamond charges, switch to iron or copper to chip at it while you save diamond for the killing blow.

Soul Stone Enhancements

Illustrative enhancement tiles: green Small, purple Medium, and gold Large in the third row. HP labels show partially damaged tiles; key stones and power-ups appear below.
Once you own five or more distinct Soul Stones, mining can produce three additional enhancement tiles. Ownership counts Queenstone, Sword Stone, Brute Stone, Balance Stone, Elemental Stone, Twilight Stone, Aether Stone, and Phantom Stone. Phantom Stone helps meet the gate and can receive enhancement levels, although it is not one of the seven stones newly obtained from mining.
Enhancement Appearance Starting HP Total level increments Ordinary group-spawn chance
Small Green faceted stone 100 5 0.35%
Medium Purple faceted stone 180 10 0.125%
Large Gold faceted stone 300 20 0.025%
These chances apply to each eligible ordinary group-generation roll. They total 0.5%; that weight is taken from common Rock in one spawn group and Gold in the other. A visit's initial board can also contain enhancements once the ownership gate is met.

How Enhancement Levels Are Awarded

You must break the tile, not merely reveal it. Each of its 5, 10, or 20 increments is randomly allocated to one currently owned Soul Stone. This is a shared total, not that many levels for every stone. Several increments may go to the same stone; there is no choice of recipient.
For example, a Small tile could distribute its five levels as Queenstone +2, Sword Stone +1, and Phantom Stone +2. That is an example allocation, not a fixed reward. An owned stone with a zero/uninitialized level is treated as at least level 1 before its awarded increments are added.
Direct hits, Diamond bonus hits, adjacent match damage, and power-up damage all work. Iron/Copper/Diamond deal 1/2/5 direct damage; adjacent matches deal 5/10/25; a power-up chain deals 15 per affected tile. The reward is committed once when the tile breaks and persists in the stone's main-game level.

The Separate 60-Swing Enhancement Guarantee

  1. With at least five owned stones, accepted paid swings count toward enhancement discovery. Rejected clicks and free cascade hits do not count.
  2. Any enhancement tile appearing resets the “since last find” counter, even before you break that tile.
  3. After 60 paid swings without a find, the game queues a guaranteed enhancement: 70% Small, 25% Medium, 5% Large.
  4. The queued tile takes the next refill position, before ordinary tiles or bedrock. A hit that only damages a durable tile may leave no gap, so the queued enhancement waits until a tile breaks and the board refills.
  5. There is no one-enhancement-per-visit limit. After an enhancement appears, the counter begins again, and ordinary enhancement rolls continue.
This guarantees a tile appearing, not an automatic level reward on swing 60. It is independent of the older key-stone/Iridescent pity system below. On exit, the board, unbroken enhancements, queued tile, and discovery counter are discarded; already awarded stone levels remain.

Pity Timer

To keep the rare items from being maddening, the game has a pity timer:
After 60 accepted paid swings in a single visit, each group-generation roll checks a 3% chance to force an eligible rare tile. Candidates are the still-unowned mining stones if no key stone has spawned this visit, plus Iridescent if none has appeared this visit. Each candidate tile is equally likely, so the two categories are not necessarily a 50/50 split.
A key stone appearance disables further key-stone spawns for that visit, but Iridescent pity can continue. An Iridescent appearance disables its pity candidate, but key-stone pity can continue. When both have appeared, pity stops. Ordinary Iridescent rolls can still occur. If all seven mining stones are owned, the pity pool can contain only Iridescent.
This is an increased chance after 60 swings, not a guaranteed rare tile on swing 60. It runs separately from the guaranteed enhancement system. Luck Potion retries can help supported fragment-bonus rolls and the 3% rare-pity check; they do not increase every ordinary tile weight or guarantee a specific stone. The screen shows successful retries as “Luck retry wins.”
So if you've been mining a while and haven't seen anything special, the pity timer kicks in and significantly increases your odds. The 60-click counter resets every time you re-enter the minigame.

Getting More Pickaxes

You'll burn through pickaxes quickly. Here's how to restock:

Buying from Gem

  • Mountain Foothills, while Gem is present (7 AM – 5 PM)
  • Iron Pickaxes (x5) action: $200, 10 minutes
  • Once per in-game day

Pickaxe Haul (supporter access)

With the full-version and Higher Power access requirements met, Gem also offers a premium bundle: trade 1 crystal for 10 iron + 10 copper + 10 diamond pickaxes (15 minutes, +2 Gem relationship). No daily limit — if you have crystals to spare, this is by far the fastest way to stock up on copper and diamond charges.

Battle Drops (Dungeon)

The ordinary dungeon battle reward roll has a 15% base chance to award one pickaxe: Iron on floors 1–20, Copper on 21–30, Diamond on 31–40, and a random one of the three on 41–45. Applicable drop bonuses can increase that chance. Minotaur rewards replace this pickaxe drop with Leather; special Infinity enemies can use a separate drop pool. Check the battle reward message for what you received.

Heists (Thieves Guild)

After a successful heist, a 10% roll can award one Copper Pickaxe from the Gilded Row or one Diamond Pickaxe from the Noble Quarter.

Search Encounters

The Medieval Back Alley search action has a small chance to find a pickaxe stash. Choose to take it and you'll get:
  • 2–5 iron pickaxes
  • 2–4 copper pickaxes
  • A bonus diamond pickaxe based on your Luck stat (Luck-checked, so higher Luck = better odds)

Repair Tiles (Mining Itself)

Breaking a repair tile gives you +3 of whatever pickaxe you used. This is a meaningful net positive on iron (1 click in, 3 back), and it's one of the reasons cascade chains are so valuable — if a repair tile gets caught up in a cascade, you get the pickaxes for free.

Hard Cap

You can hold a maximum of 999 of each pickaxe type. Any excess is discarded, so spend down before stockpiling beyond that.

Tips and Strategy

Before Entering

  • Stock up on energy items — every click costs 10 energy, so a session with 100 energy gives you about 10 clicks before the energy tile becomes critical. Energy items inside the minigame restore 25-50 energy per use.
  • Have at least one pickaxe of any type; the action is unavailable without one. Check your selected tool after entry and switch if that type is empty.
  • Aim for a fresh full energy bar if you can — running out mid-cascade is frustrating.

During a Session

  • Look for cascades before clicking. If you can break a tile that will cause a 4+ match, take that over a random click. Match damage chains and bonus rewards add up fast.
  • Save diamond for power-ups, multi-hit tiles, and key stones. Don't waste diamond charges on a basic rock when iron will do the same job.
  • Use copper to clear bedrock blockages. Bedrock separates matching tiles; it falls with the column when gaps open below it. New bedrock can respawn during long sessions, so copper stays useful after the starting rocks are gone.
  • The energy tile is your friend. Every energy tile broken is +30 net energy (40 restored minus the 10 you spent clicking). Prioritize them when they appear.
  • Power-up adjacency is the highest-value play. If you can trigger a power-up by matching tiles next to it (so the chain triggers it for free), you're gaining a power-up activation without spending a charge.

Long Sessions and the Pity Timer

  • Once you own five stones, bring enough Energy and pickaxes to finish enhancement tiles before exiting. A Large tile has 300 HP; nearby matches and power-ups reduce the number of direct swings needed.
  • A natural enhancement appearance restarts its 60-swing guarantee. Discovering a tile and collecting its reward are separate steps.
  • The 60-click pity timer means committed players will see rare items relatively often. Plan for sessions of at least 60+ clicks if you're hunting key stones or iridescent.
  • After a key stone or iridescent has spawned in a session, the pity timer for that one is "spent" — you can still mine for the other (key stone vs iridescent), but you can't get a second key stone in the same run.

Resource Strategy

  • Mithril is the rarest of the four basic ingots. It only drops as a small chance from coal, the random pool of metal/molten/metal_star, and 10% from rock.
  • Gold is a reliable silver source, but Metal, Rock, Metal Fragments, Molten, and Metal Star can also supply it. Both tile groups appear during normal refills.
  • Cluster, crystal, and gem fragments mostly come from gems, panthers, and rainbow/rose/iridescent. These tiles are rarer than basic minerals, so crystal and gem fragments accumulate slower.

Don't Forget to Exit

The minigame doesn't have a win condition or auto-exit. It runs until you decide to leave. If you've cleaned up everything you wanted, just press X, ESC, or Space to return to the world.


Common Questions

  • Why is Mining greyed out? Check the 30 Energy entry cost and your total pickaxe stock.
  • Why can I enter but cannot swing? Entry spends 30 Energy; each swing still needs another 10 and a nonempty selected tool.
  • Why did my blast not destroy a stone? Key stones and enhancements retain HP and take 15 damage per calculated power-up chain.
  • Why no enhancement after 60 clicks? You need five distinct owned stones; only accepted paid swings count. Natural finds restart the counter, and a queued guarantee needs a refill position.
  • Why did only a few stones gain levels? Enhancement levels are randomly distributed from one shared pool.
  • Can I leave and finish this board later? Leaving clears the board and visit progress. Collect rare tile rewards before exiting.

Accuracy Notes

Rechecked against current mining logic, screens, action entry, Gem’s shop, inventory conversion, and Soul Stone enhancement code on 4 October 2026. Screenshots use the native game menus with illustrative example balances and tile positions. All reward quantities in the tile tables are fragments, unless explicitly described as Energy, pickaxes, key items, or stone levels.

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Text adapted from the community-maintained Chronoromancer Wiki under CC BY-SA 4.0.