Bone Pickaxe

Low pickaxe power but a very fast swing makes this the quickest pre-hardmode option for anything softer than stone. Dirt, sand, mud and clay come apart faster with it than with a higher tier metal pickaxe. The moment you reach stone or ore that flips, and the Molten Pickaxe takes over. Light is the modifier you want if digging is the job, since speed is the entire reason to carry it.

Connecting with an enemy lobs a bone that arcs downward and stops on the first thing it touches. It fires once per target struck, so a swing that catches three enemies sends out three bones. Before you build around that, know that the game files it under ranged: it takes your ranged crit and ignores melee buffs completely. Flask coatings, sharpening stations and the Magma Stone all do nothing for it. Legendary is the modifier for anyone actually planning to fight with the thing.

Undead Miners in the cavern layer are the only source, and most players find one by accident rather than by hunting. If you want it on purpose, a water candle and battle potions in a long stone tunnel is the usual approach.