Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 58: Boots

"Thud!"

A cone-headed arrow struck the bullseye of a target thirty meters away. This distance wasn't particularly far, but considering it was a dim night with only a bonfire for illumination, it was still quite decent.

Li Wei walked over and pulled out the ten cone-headed arrows one by one from the target.

These cone-headed arrows all had iron arrowheads that would deform after just a few uses, so he had been using them for training.

As for those steel cone-headed arrows, he couldn't bear to use them for practice since he only had five.

What was somewhat troublesome was that because Leon's main quest this month was fishing, and Penny was even less available, the family's blacksmith shop had essentially shut down.

So when Li Wei's iron cone-headed arrows got deformed, he didn't know who to go to for reforging, let alone the steel cone-headed arrows that only Penny could craft.

Last month, such matters would have been directly handed to Penny for handling, but now he was realizing how inconvenient it was.

"Maybe I should figure out a way to make a straw target using wheat stalks?"

Li Wei frowned in thought, though wheat stalks were quite different from proper straw."Brother, these fish bladders are for you!"

Leon rushed back from outside the camp, carrying the distinct smell of fish. Normally, these fish would be given to Fila to process, and the fish bladders would naturally be sold to Li Wei by Fila.

Aside from the first time when she overcharged him 50 experience points, Fila had been exchanging five fish bladders for one point of any type of experience.

But now this business had been taken over by Leon - six fish bladders for one point of any experience.

Fish bladders were important materials for boiling fish glue, which was essential for Li Wei to make fletched arrows.

[Professional Fisherman *** sold you twelve fish bladders, you paid two hunting experience points]

After the transaction concluded, Leon handed the processed fish over to Fila, then casually washed up and was about to rest when Li Wei stopped him.

"Leon."

"What's up, brother?"

Leon naturally turned back to ask, but his eyes were extremely wary.

He had it even worse than Li Wei - after being tricked several times in succession by Fila, Mixi, and Penny, he had now entered a state of defensive paranoia. So the moment Li Wei spoke up, he immediately assumed it was another trap.

Li Wei sighed inwardly as he handed Leon a cone-headed arrow with a twisted arrowhead, saying instead, "Today I spotted a pheasant but missed my shot. The arrow fell into the creek and I couldn't find it - it might have been washed away by the water. Be careful when you're fishing."

"Okay, brother."

Leon smiled, then glanced at the bent cone-headed arrow. The next second, he sent over a trade request.

[Professional Fisherman *** offers arrowhead repair service. Repairing one iron arrowhead requires 5 points of any experience. Crafting surface-carburized steel arrowheads, each priced at 50 points of any experience]

—

Li Wei felt utterly speechless. So you've finally graduated too, huh Leon?

He directly rejected the trade and took back the twisted cone-headed arrow from Leon's hand. Fine, no repairs then.

Leon chuckled but didn't mind. Currently there were only two craftsmen in the family - if you didn't come to him, you'd have to go to Penny. But just two days ago you initiated a plot kill against Penny - expecting her to repair your arrows? Better wait for next month's main quest instead.

In the night, Li Wei remained silent for a long while, but he wasn't particularly annoyed. This situation might seem absurd, but it was actually quite reasonable.

Because the meaning of the Family Head's existence was to issue monthly main quests, ensuring the minimum baseline to keep the family functioning normally.

A sound system was better than relying on individual character and morality.

This month, because Penny was injured and winter was approaching, he had assigned Leon to fishing to ensure food security. Otherwise, the family would need to maintain at least one active craftsman every month.

In the future, as the family population grew, how to properly arrange each profession's monthly tasks would become very important.

If the arrowheads couldn't be repaired, then so be it. His experience points didn't grow on trees either - he could wait until next month.

Besides, wooden arrows weren't bad for training either.

Next, Li Wei took his iron spear and made his routine patrol around the camp, using obstacles to block the camp entrance. Since he, as the Family Head, hadn't assigned anyone specifically to handle these tasks, he could only take responsibility for them himself.

He didn't care how others handled being Family Head, but since he had become one, he needed to remain vigilant. After all, to put it bluntly, Family Contribution only mattered within this world and during task cycles. What was truly cost-effective and most precious was definitely the clearance evaluation.

"George!"

When Li Wei returned from his patrol, he saw Penny standing there holding his twisted cone-headed arrow, having emerged at some unknown time. Under the firelight, her expression was quite intriguing.

It was unclear whether she had overheard his conversation with Leon, but she could probably guess what had happened.

However, this wasn't something that could be openly discussed. On the surface, Li Wei still maintained a concerned expression. "Sister, the weather's getting chilly, and your injury just healed. Why aren't you resting properly?"

"I'm fine, George. Tomorrow I'll repair your arrowheads for you. They're easy to fix - just heat them up and forge them a bit."

Penny spoke calmly. Li Wei remained silent, waiting for her to send a trade request. Surprisingly, none came.

What trick was she trying to play?

"George, look at you, you've gotten so thin!" Penny continued speaking on her own, even reaching out to affectionately stroke Li Wei's face, her voice becoming choked up. If it were daytime, you might even see tears glistening in her eyes. Hmm, top-notch acting skills.

"The day after tomorrow, let's go mine iron ore together. That work is too exhausting - having me share some of the burden would be good for you."

Bullshit. You're a free agent now, you can do whatever you want. Don't make it sound so noble.

While complaining internally, Li Wei still followed the script's logic to dissuade her: "Sister, your foot was injured before. You really shouldn't be doing such strenuous work."

"My foot is fine now, look."

Penny actually lifted her foot and bounced it slightly. Only then did Li Wei notice that the straw sandals on her feet were badly damaged in one section, having turned into flip-flops. Straw sandals were, after all, just straw sandals - they couldn't withstand much wear and tear.

In that instant, Li Wei immediately understood Penny's purpose in seeking him out. All this talk of deep sisterly affection was just like the brotherly bond between him and Leon earlier.

Because he happened to have an extra pair of boots - spoils of battle that belonged solely to him. As long as he didn't donate them, other players could only watch but not touch them.

"Sister, the weather's getting cold. I have an extra pair of boots - I'll give them to you to wear. Try them on and see if they fit?"

Li Wei immediately spoke up, sounding very generous. But privately, he had already sent over a trade request.

Hmm, the tables had turned - it was his turn to harvest some experience points.

Last time he had only managed to salvage two pairs of leather boots from the bandits, while the other bandits were all wearing straw sandals. This showed that whether it was leather armor or these high-quality boots, their value was quite substantial.

So pricing them at 300 mining experience points wasn't extortion, was it?

That kid Leon earlier was even more ruthless than him - charging 50 experience points for one steel arrowhead.

For a moment, Penny's gaze became quite complex. She had come over to chat with Li Wei specifically because she wanted to buy these leather boots, but this kid was actually demanding such an outrageous price.

300 mining experience points basically meant 30 days of work for nothing.

The next second, Penny rejected the trade, her smile growing even brighter. "George, how many iron arrowheads do you still have? Give them all to me tomorrow. I'll reforge them for you. No - this entire month, no matter how many there are, I'll take care of all of them."

Hmm, so this was bargaining.

Li Wei smiled slightly and sent another trade request, lowering the price from 300 mining experience points to 200.

He was an honest person who couldn't bring himself to engage in such unscrupulous merchant practices.

200 experience points was really quite reasonable.

At this moment, Penny's large, watery eyes stared at him, while his sincere gaze met hers directly.

A full three seconds passed.

Finally, it was Penny who let out a deep breath and accepted the trade, because she had no other choice.

Li Wei's arrowheads could easily wait until next month. By then, heavy snow would block the mountains, rivers would freeze over, fishing yields would decrease, and Leon would have to return as the duty craftsman. So just adding one sentence to the main quest would be enough to solve that problem.

But what about her?

Winter was coming. She now had a wolfskin robe to keep her upper body warm. For leg warmth, she could sew together some old clothes and take two rabbit pelts from storage to protect her knees - that would suffice.

In fact, Fila, Leon, and even Li Wei were all doing this. Over the past two months, Li Wei as the hunter had brought back no fewer than twenty wild rabbits.

Only the feet - this was something that truly couldn't be compromised.

Even if Mixi were still here, she might not be able to craft leather boots of equivalent quality, let alone without having leather as material.

Only with a good pair of boots could she take on side jobs.