novelraw Chapter 29: Mushroom Soup
Chapter 29: Mushroom Soup
At dusk, Li Wei returned to the camp. Fila had already prepared dinner, with its aroma wafting through the small camp courtyard.
Spread across the open ground of the yard were the processed mushrooms that had begun drying, covering a full ten square meters when laid out. Today had been a bountiful harvest for her.
The heavy rain last night naturally meant abundant mushrooms today.
"Oh, my George, hunting isn't that easy, is it? Don't be discouraged—you're already an excellent hunter. Come have dinner now and try the mushroom meat soup I made?"
Fila greeted him cheerfully, seeming to have bounced back, even personally serving Li Wei a bowl.
"Thank you, Mom!"
Li Wei expressed his gratitude, not particularly worried that Fila would poison him. Besides, although the mushroom meat soup looked rather plain and dark, it smelled incredibly fragrant. Being quite hungry, he gulped it down in no time, his eyes lighting up as he ate.
It was genuinely delicious—the mushroom meat soup had a rich, savory flavor, made even more aromatic by the addition of animal fat. After eating it, his entire body felt comfortable, and all his taste buds seemed to be cheering. Despite feeling exhausted from a long day, after drinking this bowl of soup, he felt as though most of his fatigue had vanished.
"George, is it tasty?"
Fila sat nearby with a beaming smile, asking in an unusually gentle tone that almost made Li Wei believe in the illusion of a loving, harmonious family. She was acting far too strangely."Delicious."
"Then have another bowl."
Fila served Li Wei another bowl before taking one to Penny. She seemed to be in such high spirits today that she even chatted casually with Penny, asking if the mushroom meat soup tasted good.
Penny wasn't particularly interested in conversation and merely gave brief responses.
Nevertheless, Penny still drank three large bowls of the mushroom meat soup.
Li Wei also had three bowls. Not only was tonight's dinner plentiful, but the portions were generous too. Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
As he pondered this, two lines of information abruptly appeared.
[Professional Chef *** has developed a new dish and received praise from the Family Head and all family members. This is a one-star dish. Long-term consumption will strengthen the body. Consuming it twenty times per month for six consecutive months will grant one Free Attribute Point.]
[Professional Chef *** has donated the recipe and method for this mushroom meat soup to the family. She has gained 20 Family Contribution points. However, she must ensure she provides at least twenty servings of mushroom meat soup per month for the next six months. Unless due to unavoidable circumstances, contribution points will be revoked if this condition is not met.]
[Friendly reminder: This process does not affect experience gain or contribution from main quests.]
——
Li Wei stared blankly, utterly shocked. This—this actually worked?
A veteran sneaky player had pulled a fast one!
Damn, it was only his first day as Family Head, and he was left with just 30 Family Contribution points, while Fila, that sneaky player, had probably already surpassed him.
And this was after Fila had previously made a mistake and suffered a setback.
One could only say it was terrifyingly impressive.
If her family main quest hadn't been interrupted by the wolf threat, Fila, that sneaky player, would have been unstoppable.
Anyway, Li Wei was genuinely convinced.
After resting for a while, he initially planned to go inside and sleep, but Fila's dazzling achievement had him too stimulated to rest. So, he took his Short Knife and began carving Wooden Arrows by the bonfire.
Penny had mentioned that the quality of Wooden Arrows directly affected shooting performance.
He needed to improve himself through solid, grounded effort.
By the time he finished carving ten Wooden Arrows, it was already late at night. Yet, Li Wei felt neither sleepy nor tired. There was no denying it—Fila's mushroom meat soup was truly remarkable. No wonder donating it earned 20 Family Contribution points.
Reflecting on this, Li Wei used the firelight to nock an arrow, draw his bow, and release it ten times in succession. This daily training was indispensable.
Thanks to his Hunter profession bonus, he could now hit the target with all Wooden Arrows within twenty meters. Of course, upon hitting the target, the Wooden Arrows were also destroyed.
They were essentially disposable consumables.
But they were crucial for Li Wei to master the Hunting Bow and improve his archery skills and proficiency.
As the saying goes, expert marksmen are forged through countless rounds of ammunition.
Presumably, the same principle applied to becoming an expert archer.
Another new day arrived. After breakfast, Li Wei grabbed his axe, took his Wooden Spear and Hunting Bow, crossed the creek whose flow had slightly decreased, and headed to the east bank to chop trees.
He was already quite familiar with this work, especially now that he had 10 Strength and 140 Stamina. Chopping down ten trees per day should have been effortless.
However, unlike before, Li Wei this time chose trees with diameters around thirty to forty centimeters.
These larger trees were relatively harder to fell, but he wanted to use timber of this thickness to upgrade the camp's Perimeter Wall. After all, conflicts with Fila and Penny were internal matters, but external dangers were far more numerous and unpredictable.
If possible, he even wanted to build an Arrow Tower inside the camp.
About an hour later, the large tree crashed to the ground with a tremendous noise that startled even Li Wei.
Simultaneously, he gained a full 10 points of Logging Experience—one tree equivalent to ten!
Clearly, trees of different thicknesses yielded different amounts of Logging Experience.
However, it was genuinely challenging to chop, especially with an axe that wasn't particularly effective. His Stamina Points were nearly depleted.
He had no choice but to rest for half an hour before starting to trim the branches and crown. This was also a crucial step—without processing it into a log, it wouldn't count toward the main quest harvest.
And this task was equally labor-intensive.
Even though Li Wei was now quite Healthy and well-nourished, he couldn't manage to chop another tree before noon.
By the time he finished trimming, it was already midday.
Afterward, he led Old Ox to drag this over-ten-meter-long log back. Unexpectedly, the task progress in his Attribute Panel had changed.
It now showed 1/3. So, one such large tree really was equivalent to ten smaller trees?
"So, what is the standard for one unit? Is it one cubic meter?"
Li Wei pondered. What about other types of harvest? They probably each had their own standards.
For instance, the five units of dried wild vegetables Fila donated last time definitely couldn't be settled using cubic meters.
And the prey he needed to hunt next—required as two units—surely didn't mean he had to obtain two cubic meters of meat. That would be utterly absurd.
Returning to the camp, Fila had already prepared lunch, and even Penny could walk out carefully to stroll around.
"George, you actually brought back an oak tree! Can you split it into firewood? I want to burn some charcoal."
Penny leaned against the wall, speaking somewhat weakly.
Oak? Charcoal?
Li Wei turned back in surprise to look at the log he had dragged. He had no ability to identify tree species, no wonder he had struggled so much while chopping it that morning.
"Burn charcoal now? Your body hasn't recovered yet."
"My silly brother, after splitting it into firewood, it needs to air dry for a while. Our Blacksmith Shop can't do without charcoal." Penny's speech carried a distinct translated quality, but Li Wei understood her meaning perfectly—she was subtly telling him the prerequisite for building the Blacksmith Shop.
Li Wei didn't mind this. In fact, if Sam hadn't died and Fila hadn't obtained the Family Head position to set a different development path, Penny's Blacksmith Shop would likely have already been scheduled.