  The most basic metals a Magician must start with are /bIron/z, /bCopper/z, /bSilver/z, and /bGold/z.
<~><~>  Since the great upheaval of the world's depths, these metals have settled at new levels. Iron is found from around Y 56 down toward bedrock, most plentiful near Y 16, and again high in the mountains above Y 80. Copper and Silver share much the same spread, common in the mid-depths and the peaks alike. Gold lies deeper, below Y 32 and richest near the bottom of the world, though it remains far more abundant in the /bBadlands/z, a fact that drove our ancestors to carve great mines into those hills.
<~><~>  These are all adequate metals, however /bSteel/z, a far more durable metal, can be derived from the combination of /bCharcoal/z and Iron.
<~><~>  Steel Amalgam can be created by crafting a block of Charcoal, placing it and heating it with Fire, Lava, Campfire or Magma, and then leaving an Iron Ingot to slowly melt into it. It can then be smelted into Steel Ingots in a Furnace.
<~><~>  And should you seek the rarer /bMagic Gem Ores/z, dig deep near the bottom of the world, below Y 16 and richest toward bedrock, the very same depths where Diamonds are found.
<~><~>  A word on /bCopper/z. The common ore is everywhere, and any student can fill a chest with it. But common copper will not hold magic for more than a moment. What we want is /bPure Copper/z, which is far rarer, and it is the only kind that conducts. Where this book says copper, it assumes you use Pure Copper unless stated otherwise.
<~><~>  You will not find /bBronze/z or /bBrass/z ore, no matter how deep you dig. Both once came from natural veins, where copper sat against tin or zinc in the heat of the deep earth. The same great upheaval that moved the other metals broke those veins apart and separated them again, and the depths have not been hot enough to form new ones since. Now they can only be made in a /bCatalyst Basin/z, or found in chests.