Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 45: Open-pit Iron Mine

Next, Li Wei carried the Sika Deer back to the camp. As expected, Fila was already waiting there early, her gaze affectionate and full of praise, because this was also a huge benefit for her.

If it weren't like this, when she was previously the Family Head, she wouldn't have strongly advocated focusing the family's development priorities on hunting and gathering, because this was very beneficial for the development of her Cook profession and Butcher profession.

It was simply a win-win situation.

"George, my good child, Mommy loves you. Don't tire yourself out when chopping trees. Here, have some honey water first."

Fila was very happy. If Li Wei could hunt several one-star quality prey every month, that would be truly wonderful for her.

Unfortunately, this time she could only focus on skinning and tanning. Her Cook Card couldn't prepare the venison into one-star dishes, at most it could only be used to make Mushroom Meat Soup.

Because many conditions weren't met yet. It wasn't as simple as just donating a stir-fried venison recipe to the family through wishful thinking. The family's hardware had to reach the standard for mass, regular production.

Such as sufficient seasonings, enough Grease, and so on.

Right now, the family was almost out of salt. Even if they brought the full 108-course Imperial Banquet recipes, it would be useless.

Li Wei was quite calm though, because he clearly understood that hunting a deer was just an interlude, a matter of luck, but such luck couldn't be sought after deliberately.This month he needed to chop five units of Oak Tree, meaning at least five trees, and then break them down. So even with a steel axe, it would still take at least ten days.

If only he had a steel saw.

But this steel axe wasn't bad either. Li Wei swung it with a whistling sound. Whether in terms of skill, experience, Stamina, or Strength, all aspects were quite good. He could roughly chop down, trim branches, then bring Old Ox to drag the Logs back, and then proceed with breaking them down.

This entire process previously took him three days. Back then, the axe wasn't powerful enough, and even with strength, he couldn't fully utilize it.

Now with this sharp steel axe, two days were sufficient.

When he led the ox back dragging an Oak Tree, he discovered Penny's trio was preparing to forge a second steel axe for convenient maintenance and sharpening.

"Why not forge a steel saw?" Li Wei asked an extra question.

"For now, the difficulty is a bit too high. Next month," Penny shook her head, her gray-white hair making her look even more aged. Her slightly furrowed brow showed just how much pressure she was under.

Li Wei didn't understand, and without understanding, he had no right to speak.

But he could guess that Penny's trio, or mainly Penny and Mixi, they two were planning to forge some weapons, armor, and some steel tools that could be used for trade.

Trade was the most important main storyline this month.

If something went wrong, not only would Penny as the Family Head be in trouble, but the entire family might suffer heavy losses.

For a moment, Li Wei felt somewhat worried. After all, when the nest overturns, no egg remains unbroken.

Unfortunately, the nearby mountains and forests truly couldn't find any salt mines.

In the following days, busyness and exhaustion became the family's theme.

Li Wei chopped Oak Trees at a rate of one unit every two days, splitting Firewood, and during this period he also took out two days to plant Winter Wheat.

While gathering, Fila could bring back several fish every day. Besides this, she seemed to be trying to brew wine with wild fruits. After all, it was currently autumn, and the wild fruits on the mountains were simply too abundant. After drying some portion, brewing fruit wine also seemed like a good option.

In short, her harvest this month would be unprecedented.

As for Penny's trio, after clanging away at forging for several days, they altogether forged two steel axes, one steel Shovel, two pickaxes, and two steel Short Knives.

Then, Leon took care of the small blast furnace, while Penny and Mixi began mining Iron Ore.

Everyone was busy running in circles.

Just like this, after eleven days, Li Wei completed the chopping and splitting of five units of Oak Tree. This Firewood could be burned into Charcoal after drying was complete, but according to the agreement, he wouldn't handle this step anymore. Leon basically took over the burning process.

Then for the remaining time, he had to go with Penny and Mixi to mine and transport Iron Ore.

It's worth mentioning that during these days he altogether gained 150 points of Logging Experience, 50 points of Farming Experience, and 110 points of hunting experience. Their respective total experience reached 450 points, 360 points, and 310 points.

As for the meal fee issue, it no longer existed. When there was a Family Head and main quests, even newcomers didn't need to pay.

However, unfortunately, he still hadn't triggered a one-star logging card, but this couldn't be forced. Fortunately, this experience was truly genuine, especially the Farming Experience and hunting experience, which were important conditions for future upgrades to the Three-Star Farmer Card and Three-Star Hunter Card.

"George, we're going mining. You don't need to bring your bow, right?"

When the month reached the twelfth day, after eating breakfast, Penny and Mixi prepared properly. Li Wei also packed the items he wanted to bring. Besides a steel pickaxe, an iron spear, a Wooden Spear, and a steel Short Knife, he also carried a Carrying Basket for loading ore, along with his Hunting Bow, five Fletched Arrows, one portion of Dry Rations, and one portion of Clean Water.

"It's fine, just in case. If we encounter prey, we can also improve our living conditions," Li Wei laughed. But these things added together were indeed quite heavy. In contrast, Penny and Mixi were much simpler, only carrying Short Knives, iron spears, and additionally Carrying Baskets with dry rations.

Their pickaxes were left at the mining site, buried.

Penny no longer tried to persuade him, taking the lead upfront, with Mixi in the middle, and Li Wei following at the back. The group of three left the camp, following the mountain stream upstream toward the Valley. Penny had walked this route many times before, even creating a small path.

Thinking about last month when Penny mined ore early and returned late, transporting it back and forth, Li Wei also admired her. This woman was tough enough.

"Why not use the stream water to transport the ore? Making a raft shouldn't be difficult," Li Wei asked casually. He didn't think Penny and Mixi couldn't think of this.

"The water is too shallow, and there are too many stones in the riverbed that need clearing. It's difficult to implement in a short time. But when we have sufficient time, we can build a Dam downstream from the camp to raise the water level. We could also build a waterwheel, which would be much better than manual forging whether for grinding flour or forging iron. In the future, relying on this dam, we could even cultivate the land to the east and build a castle."

Penny spoke with radiant enthusiasm, incredibly confident. But this wasn't just empty talk—she was determined that she would continue being re-elected as Family Head. This was also said for Li Wei and Mixi to hear.

If no accidents occurred in the future, no one could stop Penny from staying far ahead. She would continuously be re-elected as Family Head. From her perspective, it was best if no ineffective competition appeared within the family, and no more messy Plot Kill situations. As long as everyone was willing to support her, then she would correspondingly yield sufficiently substantial benefits.

Because there was ample space and stage for everyone to perform.

Like right now, Mixi and Leon were bound together with Penny because of her small blast furnace, Primitive Steelmaking, and future foreign trade.

Only benefits can terminate competition.

In fact, even Li Wei wouldn't refuse such a situation. He was still waiting for Penny to make him a Recurve Bow, or even a compound bow.