Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 28 Empty-handed
Wow, those are pretty high standards.

Li Wei immediately felt a sense of urgency. Fila could easily collect five units of wild vegetables and mushrooms. It was the height of summer, and if she was lucky, she could finish in less than twenty days. Any extra time would be her own private property.

He had quite a lot of tasks to complete, since there was a reward of eight points of family contribution.

That would be fine, but he also has to help Penny build a blacksmith shop, which is a bit nerve-wracking.

However, this was the only option he had. His family did need a blacksmith shop; many tools and weapons required a blacksmith to make them.

Most importantly, this approach aligns with Penny's career development goals while also ensuring the blacksmith shop becomes family property, something Penny wholeheartedly agrees to.

Moreover, this family storyline also fully considers Fira's career development direction.

Regardless of how those two bitches behave normally, we still need to try our best to win them over for the overall development of the family.

"Penny, George, dinner's ready."

Outside the house, the aroma of meat wafted through the air. Fila had already prepared breakfast, and she had cleaned up the black wolf's carcass thoroughly. This made Li Wei very suspicious that Fila would eventually obtain a one-star butcher card.

Yes, this situation will be triggered as long as you do the same thing a lot and gain experience.

The competition among the three of them will only intensify.

After breakfast, Li Wei slung two spare spears over his shoulder, slung his hunting bow over his shoulder, and carried ten featherless wolf-tooth arrows, one feathered wolf-tooth arrow, and the fine wooden spear that Penny had crafted, before leaving the camp.

His goal today was to explore the terrain around the camp, look for possible iron ore, and then fish.

The former is very important. He may not have cared about it in the past, but now that he has become the head of the family, he has to start planning for the future development of the family. And this cannot be done without on-site exploration.

Therefore, after leaving the camp, Li Wei first went to the stream in the middle of the valley and explored upstream along the stream, while looking for those suspected iron ore.

A torrential rain last night caused a flash flood, which increased the flow of water in the stream by three or four times and washed down even more large rocks.

Li Wei observed carefully and found that although the flood volume was large, the terrain was relatively flat within this area, so it did not cause major geological disasters such as landslides. However, if there is a sudden and extremely heavy rainfall in the future, such a situation cannot be ruled out.

The wild grass along the stream was extremely lush, covered with dew. After walking for a while, Li Wei was half-soaked. He was reluctant to use his fine wooden spear to clear the way, so he took a spare wooden spear and tapped it as he walked, not daring to be careless.

They walked uphill for about three kilometers, and more than an hour had passed. During this time, Li Wei discovered more than a dozen huge rocks that looked like iron ore. He couldn't move them by himself; he would need an ox to pull them or break them up to move them. But that wasn't urgent.

Continuing upwards, the terrain begins to steepen, and the stream turns into another valley ahead. Denseer forests appear in front, and the boundless thickets seem like an impenetrable wall, blocking Li Wei's path forward.

After observing the area for a while, he concluded that the road was impassable and that his family's resources were insufficient to expand it. In particular, the north and east sides were surrounded by towering mountains, and he didn't know how many difficulties he would encounter if he continued forward.

"Actually, the background of this family's escape feels a bit like the Black Death ravaging the Middle Ages, but it could also be a fictional world. In any case, the idea of ​​expanding outwards and leaving this valley can be abandoned!"

"The most important thing is to survive first and figure out how to get through the first winter."

Thinking this, Li Wei turned back. Looking southwest again, he could still see layers of mountains, but it was clearly different. There was no doubt that there were more human settlements in that direction, but they were currently under the control of the plague.

It is unknown whether their life attribute at level one awakening can withstand the plague.
Huh?
Li Wei suddenly stopped, only to find a group of wild boars on the opposite bank of the stream.

He stared intently, while the wild boars stared back at him with their small eyes.

After a long while, the herd of wild boars suddenly squealed and fled into the depths of the forest. "It's a pity, I'm not yet qualified to go hunting in the forest."

Li Wei sighed. He was still barefoot, without even pants, and had to constantly scare away snakes as he walked. What kind of hunting was this?

So let's catch fish first; it'll count the same.

Around noon, Li Wei returned to the camp. He didn't have time to fish, but he did manage to carry back two pieces of what appeared to be iron ore, each weighing about ten pounds. They were dark brown and somewhat resembled hematite.

But in reality, the knowledge Li Wei had acquired could only help him this far; the rest was up to fate.

Sure enough, when he carried the stones into the camp, there was no information. So, not giving up, he carried the stones into the house for Penny to check.

Penny was in pretty good condition, just very weak. She glanced at the stone in Li Wei's hand, then at Li Wei who was looking on expectantly, before saying, "George, this is probably iron ore, but I don't know exactly how much iron can be extracted from it. Don't worry about it, let's talk about it when I'm better."

Upon hearing this and finding no further information, Li Wei knew what was going on. Finding iron ore wasn't easy, but Penny must have explored the surrounding area before, so she should know what was going on. Otherwise, her eagerness to build a blacksmith shop would have been futile.

Well then, she must be hiding something. Let her take charge of this.

It's quite obvious that Penny probably doesn't want him to get the one-star miner card so quickly.

Besides, she wouldn't risk her career development just to sabotage Li Wei's family questline.

At that moment, Li Wei said a few meaningless words, telling everyone to rest and recover from their injuries. After eating, he didn't rest and went straight to the downstream of the stream, because if he wanted to catch fish, he had to go downstream.

By this time, the floodwaters in the stream had receded by at least half, revealing large areas of the riverbank covered in silt.

Li Wei walked directly through the muddy area. It was a bit difficult to walk, but it was safe. Otherwise, the waist-high weeds on the bank would have been very difficult to walk through, and one would have had to be careful of snake and insect bites.

As we walked, we observed the situation in the stream, but we didn't see any fish; they had probably been swept further downstream by the flood.

Li Wei had anticipated this and wasn't in a hurry. He continued downstream for about ten miles and finally found a school of fish in a mountain bay, but the situation there was quite different.

Not only is the water surface wide, but it is also very deep, like a small lake. Trying to repeat the old trick of moving stones to build a dam for fishing is almost impossible.

Perhaps in a few days, when the stream returns to normal, some fish will swim upstream back. As for now, fishing may be the only option.

But Li Weike didn't have any fishing gear, and the environment didn't allow it either.

After circling the small lake in the mountain bay a few times, he didn't have any better ideas. Seeing that it was getting late, he had no choice but to turn back.

That day, besides bringing back two stones, he gained nothing.

For a moment, even though Li Wei knew he couldn't rush things, he was still a little anxious. The key was that he was now the head of the family, and if he didn't produce results, he would soon be overtaken by Penefila.

"Tomorrow, we'll cut down trees first, gather enough timber for three units, and then move on to the next task after solving one."

At this moment, Li Wei chickened out. He had been thinking about making great strides this morning, but now it seemed that things were not so simple.

(End of this chapter)