Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 43: Special Main Quest

After Penny assigned tasks to Li Wei, Mixi suddenly spoke up.

"Why don't we look for some coal? Aren't coal deposits usually found near iron ore?"

"Oh, my little Mixi, you really know a lot. So why don't you handle the mining and coal digging yourself?"

Penny laughed, but her gaze remained cold. Everyone understood the principle of coal and iron occurring together, but you still had to actually dig the stuff out! Given their family's current conditions, they could only mine surface-level iron deposits, and even that would take who knows how long. Now she wanted to dig for coal? The coal seams were twenty meters underground—go ahead and try digging that!

"Sorry, sister, I'm afraid I'm not up to the task. I'm better at sewing clothes, even making armor like leather armor and chainmail. We need to trade with the outside world, so how can we not have any means of defense? What if we encounter situations with hidden arrows injuring people?"

"How about this: the three of us take turns supervising the blast furnace, take turns forging at the blacksmith shop, and also do small-scale mining together. The rest we leave to George, how about that? Although he needs to farm and cut wood, he actually still has plenty of free time."

Damn!

Li Wei gave Mixi a surprised look. You veteran player, how dare you act like a bully!

He immediately shook his head in refusal. Although doing more work would earn more contribution points, this matter couldn't be calculated that way.

"I probably don't have time for mining. Winter wheat planting takes priority."Hearing Li Wei's words, Penny pondered deeply. Although as Family Head she could forcibly assign main quests, now that the family had more people, she had to consider situations where family members might not cooperate.

If one family member preferred mutual loss over completing tasks, she as the Family Head would suffer a major reputation blow—just look at Fila's precedent.

Honestly, she remained very wary of Mixi, this veteran player who had already cleared the game once, because she didn't know what cards Mixi held.

This wasn't like dealing with novice players like George, Fila, or Leon—empty-handed, having nothing, starting from scratch, who would dare play the mutual loss game? Even if schemed against, they could only swallow their grievances.

That's why she intended to use relatively gentle methods this time, striving for win-win outcomes.

But Mixi had probably seen through this, hence dared to directly demand exorbitant prices, implying: at worst I'll just quit, I'm a veteran player, I'm not afraid to lose, I have accumulated advantages from the previous level, do you dare gamble with me?

Penny truly didn't dare gamble with her. So she turned back to Li Wei—this not entirely honest younger brother was relatively easier to reach agreements with, as long as reasonable prices were offered.

"George, would you like a recurve bow?"

Oh! A recurve bow!

Hearing Penny's words, Li Wei finally showed a pleased smile. However Mixi's antics were her business, but Penny's current attitude was what he liked. Yes, this was how a Family Head should behave.

"Deal! But I need steel pickaxes and axes, plus better food supplies. Because if I go mining, I plan to return every few days. Also, can we make a plowshare?"

Li Wei agreed and immediately stated his conditions.

"I don't recommend camping in the wilderness. We'll wait until we build a house at the mine. Other conditions are acceptable, but the plowshare must wait until next month, when we have sufficient iron ore reserves and enough time to forge it." Penny actually agreed.

"Fine, I'll listen to you."

Li Wei nodded—his part was settled. For the recurve bow, he could sacrifice everything else.

Next, Penny emphasized another point: "At the end of this month, depending on weather conditions, I'll lead a team out of the mountains to Kah Fortress to buy salt. This matter requires coordination and cooperation from all of us. Someone needs to stay behind—for maintaining the small blast furnace, for grazing livestock, etc."

"So my suggestion is: Mom, you and Leon stay at the family camp. Me, George, and Mixi will go out for trade. This will be very dangerous—we might not only suffer from plague infection but could also be hunted by the lord's men for bounties, or even extorted by guilds. We must make adequate preparations."

"But no matter how dangerous, we must obtain salt—this crucial resource."

After saying this, seeing no objections, Penny finally chose to issue the monthly family main quest.

The next second, two lines of information appeared before Li Wei's eyes.

[The Family Head has released this month's family main quest. You need to complete winter wheat planting, cutting and processing five units of oak wood, and mining and transporting no less than ten units (no upper limit) of ore. The completion deadline for this main quest is thirty days, extendable to forty days at latest. Theoretically, you will receive at least 20 points of Family Contribution.]

[The Family Head has staked her prestige to release a special monthly family main quest—external trade, establishing channels, purchasing salt. This will be a task filled with risks and crises. Rewards and punishments cannot be assessed temporarily. You cannot refuse or oppose this quest.]

After reading the information, not only Li Wei but all other family members fell into silence. Undoubtedly, Penny's bold move would be an important turning point for the family. The family's future development, prosperity or decline, hinged on this single action.

"Let's work through the night."

Penny called out, then set off with Mixi and Leon to prepare for primitive steelmaking. Actually, they already had some leads on this matter and had made relevant preparations earlier, but delayed until now for the monthly main quest.

Li Wei didn't participate, just watched the three of them working incessantly. At this pace, they could probably smelt molten steel within two or three days—this would bring huge benefits for all three of them. In comparison, the fishing, hunting, and farming responsibilities handled by him and Fila seemed inferior.

Thinking this, Li Wei took out his short knife and began routinely carving arrow shafts and practicing archery. The future remained unknown; only strengthening oneself was tangible.

At dawn the next day, he slowly woke in his small room. After house expansion, the original single room had become four—one large, three small.

The large room was planned as the main hall, already equipped with a fireplace, suitable for resting, eating, and warming up in winter. Fila and Penny lived there.

The remaining three small rooms were occupied by Li Wei, Mixi, and Leon. Not having to squeeze together significantly improved sleep quality.

Penny's trio clearly hadn't slept all night. Penny and Leon looked weary, while only Mixi remained energetic—with high attributes and a healthy body, one could afford such willfulness.

Li Wei didn't concern himself with their progress—different trades, different expertise. He didn't understand and couldn't comprehend it, so he just focused on what he excelled at.

Today's tasks were plowing fields and digging irrigation channels to bring creek water for irrigating the three farm plots. Over the past month, it had only rained once—soil moisture conditions were very poor. This made winter wheat planting impossible; irrigation was essential first.

Fortunately, the terrain here was quite superior. Li Wei had previously chosen good locations for reclaiming farmland. They only needed to build a dam about five hundred meters upstream along the creek to channel water over.

He first dug irrigation channels to connect the farmland with the creek, then moved stones in the creek to construct a small dam. They didn't even need to completely block the creek—naturally, some water would flow along the dug channels.

He first irrigated the newly reclaimed farmland, meanwhile using the shovel to turn over soil in the remaining two plots. This ensured thorough watering—otherwise, flood irrigation wouldn't penetrate deeply.

Since one crop season had passed, the difficulty of digging and turning soil in these two plots had significantly decreased. He finished in just over half a day, though the shovel was basically ruined—a steel shovel was indispensable.

Come next spring, with a plowshare, things would become much easier.