Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 39: Newcomer Leon

"Over the next couple of days, I plan to smelt a batch of molten iron. George, can you help me for two days? After that, when you're reinforcing the perimeter wall, I'll come help you."

Penny suddenly spoke up, her voice hoarse, her appearance looking like a dark, thin old woman, seemingly older than Fila.

For over twenty days now, she had been leaving early and returning late to mine iron ore while also carrying the ore back, a hundred pounds daily, trekking over ten miles of mountain paths. It was hard to imagine this was the same energetic, healthy, and vibrant little firecracker Penny from last month.

But she should have obtained the two-star Miner Card by now.

"Sure!"

Li Wei nodded. Penny, as a Craftsman, was worth trading with because his hunting bow was almost broken. He needed Penny to make him another one, or even better, craft something like a recurve bow.

Such cooperation was quite necessary.

No one said much after that. They ate dinner in silence and rested early. Li Wei and Leon routinely took their wooden spears to patrol the camp. Afterwards, Li Wei would whittle arrow shafts and practice his archery as usual.

Normally by this time, Leon would have long been back in his room resting. He hadn't had it easy these days either. Fila drove him like a beast of burden. Whatever small virtues and restraint he once had were tossed to the winds. He'd squeeze into the room, grinding his teeth, passing gas, talking in his sleep, sleeping more soundly than a pig.

But today, Leon sat down by the bonfire, watching Li Wei whittle arrow shafts. After a long while, he finally spoke: "George, Penny has been too exhausted these past days. I heard she plans to expand the house next. Starting tomorrow, I intend to help out like you do. Of course, after the house expansion, I can also help you reinforce the perimeter wall."Huh?

That was quite a sophisticated thing to say.

No, wait—Leon had finally found the blind spot. By now he should have long understood that everyone were Players, each with their own professions. But because he hadn't encountered a Plot Kill, hadn't caught the Monthly Family Main Quest, and hadn't even earned any Family Contribution points, he must have some confusion about the game's core mechanics.

But he seemed like a clever guy. This long period of observation was enough for him to collect and analyze many results.

Was he now trying to probe further?

"Sure, that works. Honestly, I feel really bad for Penny too. She is our dear sister after all. A few months ago, after her fiancé Sam was eaten by the wolf pack, she never really got over the grief. So she could only bury everything deep inside. And in just a few months, she's been worn down to this state."

"Leon, I'm glad you noticed these things. You don't need to help me with the perimeter wall, just help her."

Li Wei spoke with deep feeling.

He was stating facts. As for what Penny thought, he couldn't care less.

Let everyone step up their efforts.

Moreover, he also wanted to use this chance to probe what Leon's first profession was.

Never underestimate any newcomer.

That was the voice of experience.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, when Leon declared he would help Penny with smithing and expanding the house, the flash of anger that crossed Fila's face was strikingly clear in the sunlight.

However, she said nothing and couldn't really say anything. With Leon's help, her Monthly Family Main Quest was basically complete. From any angle, she had no grounds to keep Leon. And her daughter Penny was practically worked to death, although theoretically Penny's gains were equally substantial.

Li Wei, Penny, and Mixi all remained silent, tacitly accepting the situation. Leon's choice right now was quite subtle. From a storyline perspective, it was perfectly fine, but from a Player's perspective, one had to speculate—was Leon's first profession perhaps Craftsman?

Well, just observe slowly.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Under the sunlight, Li Wei swung the hammer, smashing chunks of iron ore into smaller pieces. After pounding over a hundred times in one go, he handed the hammer to Leon. This was heavy manual labor; without real effort, you simply couldn't break the ore.

This process was one step in refining the molten iron.

Like the earlier charcoal burning phase, fortunately there was still plenty of charcoal left from before, so they didn't need to go through that hassle again this time.

Penny was building the furnace. She needed to layer the crushed iron ore with charcoal—a technical task that relied on the bonuses from her two-star Craftsman Card.

Li Wei wasn't in a related profession, so he couldn't really learn much from it, and he didn't plan to steal techniques anyway. He already had two professions; mastering what he had, achieving proficiency and perfection, was the right path.

Of course, he occasionally observed Leon, watching his hammer-swinging posture, force, and breathing rhythm. Comparing them to his own, he could roughly estimate Leon's specific attributes.

Overall, Leon's Strength was probably about the same as his, around 10 points, since he didn't start with cancer. But his movements were less standardized, and his force application technique was slightly inferior by two or three notches. The coordination and balance skills Li Wei had accumulated through months of hard labor weren't something a newcomer like Leon could match.

But you could tell he was trying hard to learn.

Additionally, his Stamina Points were clearly insufficient.

Li Wei could swing the heavy hammer over a hundred times in one go. Leon, after just over thirty continuous swings, was already drenched in sweat, hands trembling, barely able to stand steady.

Moreover, after resting a bit, Li Wei could spring back to life and swing another hundred-plus times. Leon still hadn't recovered yet.

At first, he tried hard to keep up with Li Wei's pace, but after a few rounds, he could only lie on the ground, panting heavily, with layers of cold sweat on his forehead. He was just too drained.

So the Stamina attribute was really important.

But smashing iron ore was truly grueling work. Before noon, even Li Wei was exhausted to the point of nearly foaming at the mouth, with cramped hands and feet, slumped on the ground, not wanting to move a muscle.

As for Leon, he had thrown in the towel three hours earlier. He couldn't even keep up with Penny.

Because Penny had already taken over the hammer and started pounding away without a word. They had to light the furnace today, so they absolutely had to smash enough iron ore to fill it today.

Relying on Penny alone was clearly impossible.

After lunch and another two hours of rest, Li Wei had recovered about seventy to eighty percent. He took the hammer and continued smashing ore. Beside him was Leon, looking utterly defeated. After resting for four or five hours, the kid had finally forced himself to come back and continue swinging the hammer.

But whether he was there or not hardly mattered anymore; they had almost gathered enough iron ore.

As evening approached, Penny sealed the furnace and lit the fire, starting to use the simple bellows she made to blow air. From this point on, the process was basically irrelevant to Li Wei. He didn't even want to interfere with what would be made from this batch of molten iron, because it was obvious Penny was planning something big.

At this point, Fila and Mixi came over to help; they both had their own demands, and even Leon had his.

"This batch of molten iron will prioritize making iron nails and saws. These are essential for expanding the house. If there are any remaining iron ingots, we'll forge them based on the situation."

Penny announced expressionlessly. With twenty-two days of the month already passed, she didn't have much time left. It couldn't be helped—she had spent too much time previously grinding for the two-star Miner Card.

But as long as the monthly main task was completed, next month she had a high chance of remaining the Family Head, because her Family Contribution points held an overwhelmingly dominant advantage.

She was far ahead of Fila, who was in second place.