Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 28: Empty-handed

Damn, the requirements are quite demanding.

Li Wei immediately felt the pressure mounting. Fila collecting five units of wild vegetables and mushrooms wouldn't be a problem; it was currently midsummer, and with good luck, she could complete it in less than twenty days, with any extra time becoming her personal property.

His own tasks were a bit numerous because there was actually an eight-point Family Contribution reward attached.

That alone would be manageable, but he also had to help Penny build the Blacksmith Shop, which made things rather tight.

However, he had no choice but to proceed this way. The family currently genuinely needed a Blacksmith Shop; many tools and weapons required it for completion.

Most importantly, this approach both aligned with Penny's professional development direction and allowed the Blacksmith Shop to become family property, something Penny would wholeheartedly agree with.

Furthermore, this family main quest fully accommodated Fila's professional development direction as well.

Regardless of how those two bitches usually behaved, when it came to the family's overall development, he still had to try his best to win them over.

"Penny, George, food's ready."

The aroma of meat wafted from outside the house; Fila had already prepared breakfast. She had also processed the black wolf's corpse meticulously, making Li Wei strongly suspect that Fila would eventually obtain a One-Star Butcher Card.Yes, as long as someone repeatedly performed the same tasks and gained sufficient experience, this situation would be triggered.

The competition among the three of them would only intensify further.

After breakfast, Li Wei slung two spare spears over his back, carried the Hunting Bow, brought ten featherless Wolf-Tooth Arrows, one feathered Wolf-Tooth Arrow, and that finely crafted Wooden Spear made by Penny, then left the Camp.

His goal today was to explore the terrain and features around the camp, search for possible Iron Ore deposits, and then go fishing.

The former was very important. In the past, he could afford not to care, but now that he had become the Family Head, planning for the family's future development needed to be scheduled, and this couldn't proceed without on-the-ground surveying.

Therefore, after leaving the camp, Li Wei first went to the creek in the middle of the valley, then explored upstream along the creek while searching for suspected Iron Ore.

A heavy rain last night had caused a Flash Flood, making the creek's flow three to four times larger and washing down more large stones.

Li Wei observed carefully and found that although the Flash Flood's water volume was substantial, within this range, because the terrain was relatively gentle, it hadn't caused major geological disasters like landslides. However, if exceptionally heavy rainfall occurred in the future, such situations couldn't be ruled out.

The wild grass along the creek banks was extremely lush, covered with dew. After walking for a while, Li Wei was already half soaked. Reluctant to use that finely crafted Wooden Spear to clear the path, he took down one of the spare wooden spears, using it to beat the grass as he walked, not daring to be careless.

He walked upstream like this for roughly three kilometers; over an hour had passed. During this time, Li Wei did discover over a dozen massive stones suspected to be Iron Ore, but he couldn't move them by himself. They would require Old Ox to pull, or be broken into pieces for transport. However, this wasn't urgent.

Continuing upward from here, the terrain began turning steep. The creek ahead curved into another valley, with denser forests appearing in front. Endless thickets of shrubs stood like impenetrable walls, blocking Li Wei's forward progress.

After observing here for a moment, he basically determined this path was impassable; the family's current strength couldn't open it up. Especially since the north and east were dominated by vast, rugged high mountains. Continuing forward would undoubtedly encounter numerous difficulties.

"Actually, this family's refugee background feels a bit like the Black Death ravaging the Middle Ages, but it could also be a fictional world. Regardless, the idea of expanding outward and leaving this valley should be abandoned for now!"

"Surviving first, figuring out how to get through the first winter is the most crucial."

Thinking this, Li Wei turned back. Looking towards the southwest now, although layered ridges were still visible, they clearly seemed different. Undoubtedly, that direction likely had more human settlements, except that area was currently controlled by the Plague.

He wondered if their First-Level Awakening of the Health attribute could withstand the Plague?

Huh?

Li Wei suddenly stopped. On the opposite bank of the creek, he had spotted a group of Wild Boars.

He stared fixedly, and the group of Wild Boars also stared back at him with their small eyes.

After a long while, the group of Wild Boars suddenly started squealing and fled deep into the forest.

"Pity, I don't currently have the conditions to hunt within the forest."

Li Wei sighed. He was still barefoot and without trousers; merely walking required constantly alerting potential dangers in the grass. What kind of hunting was that?

So, fishing first would count just the same.

Around noon, Li Wei returned to the camp. He hadn't had time to fish, but he experimentally carried back two suspected Iron Ore pieces, each roughly ten jin in weight. They were blackish-brown, somewhat resembling hematite.

But honestly, the knowledge Li Wei had previously learned could only help him this far; the rest depended on fate.

Sure enough, when he carried the stones into the camp, no information prompt appeared. Unwilling to give up, he then carried the stones into the house for Penny to examine.

Penny's condition was relatively good, just very weak. She glanced at the stones in Li Wei's hands, then looked at Li Wei's expectant face before saying, "George, this is probably Iron Ore, but I don't know exactly how much iron can be smelted from it. Don't rush this matter; wait until I've recovered properly."

Hearing this, and connecting it with the lack of an information harvest, Li Wei understood the situation. Finding Iron Ore wasn't that easy. However, Penny had likely explored the surrounding areas before and probably had some idea; otherwise, her urgency to build the Blacksmith Shop would be like trying to cook without rice.

Fine, she must be hiding some things. Let her be responsible for this aspect then.

Because it was quite clear that Penny most likely didn't want him to obtain a One-Star Miner Card so quickly.

And she surely wouldn't delay her own professional development just to sabotage Li Wei's family main quest, right?

Immediately, Li Wei said a few meaningless platitudes like "rest well and recover" etc. After eating, he didn't rest and headed straight for the downstream section of the creek. If he wanted to fish, he could only go downstream.

By now, the floodwaters in the creek had receded by at least half, exposing large, mud-covered areas along the banks.

Li Wei walked directly through the muddy areas. It was somewhat difficult to traverse, but the advantage was safety. Otherwise, the waist-deep wild grass on the banks would also be very hard to walk through, plus he'd have to be careful of snake and insect bites.

As he walked, he observed the creek water, but didn't see any fish. They had probably been washed further downstream by the flood.

Li Wei had anticipated this and wasn't too anxious. He continued downstream for about ten-plus li, finally discovering a school of fish in a mountain bend, but the situation here was quite different.

Not only was the water surface broad, but the water was also very deep, resembling a small lake. Trying to repeat the old trick of building a dam with stones to catch fish was almost impossible.

Perhaps in a few days, when the creek water returned to normal, some fish would swim back upstream against the current. As for now, maybe fishing was the only option.

But Li Wei had no fishing tools, let alone an environment that permitted it.

After circling this mountain-bend lake a few times, he still hadn't found a good method. Seeing that time was running late, he could only turn back.

This entire day, apart from bringing back two stones, his harvest was actually zero.

For a moment, even though Li Wei knew he shouldn't rush, he genuinely felt somewhat anxious. The key point was that he was now the Family Head. If he didn't produce results soon, Penny and Fila would quickly catch up to him.

"Tomorrow, I'll chop wood first, gather enough three units of lumber, solve one matter before moving to the next."

At this moment, Li Wei's confidence deflated. Early this morning, he was still thinking about grand ambitions, but now it seemed things weren't that simple at all.