Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 34 Small Iron Mine
When the last day of the month arrived, as Li Wei handed a pheasant to Fila, successfully collecting two units of prey, it essentially marked the end of his era as the head of the household, and the main family quest for the month came to a perfect close.

Lines of information appeared silently.

[Under your wise leadership, all main family quests have been completed, the family's overall wealth has increased significantly, and the family's ability to withstand external risks has greatly improved. Furthermore, thanks to your strong support, the family now possesses a rudimentary blacksmith shop, and all tools and weapons used by the family have been upgraded and strengthened. The family residence has been officially upgraded to a level two camp, with the population increased by 1, bringing the total population to five.]

You will receive a 10% bonus to your completion rating.

You have gained 12 family contribution points, bringing your current total to 42.

Within 24 hours, two new players will join the family. Their identities will be determined based on the current family status and the family member who performed best in the most recent mission cycle.

The new player's identity is—George's fiancée Missy, Fira's youngest son Leon. The new player's profession and initial attributes are unknown.

[Friendly reminder: After the monthly summary, the person with the highest contribution to the family can be the head of the household.]

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Good heavens, my fiancée?
Li Wei was slightly shocked, but he was more curious about what would happen next. The family camp would continue to upgrade, the number of family members would continue to increase, and the family would become stronger day by day. Would everyone still fight on their own, vote wildly for plot kills, and fight amongst themselves every day?
"So what is the ultimate core of this game? If this is a game."

Li Wei now has to think about this matter. However, it seems that there is nothing too bad about it, because the host of this game actually talks about human rights. The scripted elimination death does not actually mean death. It feels a bit out of place. Well, this makes him, as a qualified slave, very uncomfortable.

[A professional craftswoman discovered a small iron mine twelve miles from her family. She decided to donate it to them. Because iron ore is a special three-star mineral resource in this world, she gained 100 family contribution points! However, she must guarantee to provide her family with no less than 50 units of iron ore over the next six months. Unless there are unavoidable reasons, the contribution points will be reclaimed.]

[Friendly reminder: The iron ore mined during this process will not affect experience gained or contribution points earned from main quests.]

[Note: These types of resources can only be discovered by those with the corresponding professions, such as rare herbs, rare trees, rare wild animals, seeds produced from farmland, etc.]

Two messages appeared abruptly, startling Li Wei so much that he was stunned and felt his scalp tingle!

I couldn't help but look up at Penny. Over the past few days, Penny had been like a ghost, leaving early and returning late, covered in dirt, and she had lost a lot of weight. Although I couldn't see how she climbed mountains and waded through rivers to find iron ore, I could tell how much she had suffered!
As a result, she actually managed to save up a powerful move!
A small iron mine, 100 family contribution points! That's way better than Fila's, not to mention Li Wei's. Damn, she's really going all out!

Anyway, Li Wei was convinced and had no temper left. What was the point of arguing? Even if he offered up his farmland, it wouldn't make a difference.

Wait a minute, why aren't Fila and Penny being killed off by plot twists?
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and without saying a word, he immediately chose to donate his farmland, which was about to be harvested, to his family.

You donated your farmland. Because the farmland is growing crops that are about to ripen, you have gained 10 family contribution points. You currently have 52 family contribution points.

[Friendly reminder: Because your family contribution has reached 50 points, you have become a family elder. Holding this status will exempt you from all regular plot-driven kill votes and will grant you a 5% rating bonus upon completion of the game, currently totaling 15%.]

[Special plot-driven events can be initiated between family elders. If a family elder does something wrong that causes obvious and serious consequences, a special plot-driven event—impeachment—can be launched against them. Each impeachment costs 50 family contribution points. Other family members who agree will receive a minimum of 1 point and a maximum of 5 family contribution points.]

[Friendly reminder: 50 Family Contribution Points are required to exempt yourself from special plot-driven deaths.]

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So that's how it is. He's become the family elder. That's good!

Li Wei felt a sense of relief. Although family elders could engage in special plot-driven deaths, this only happened when they made serious mistakes that led to severe consequences. For example, Fila's failure in the main quest to become the head of the family allowed for a special plot-driven death. Under normal circumstances, as long as one didn't compete for the position of family head, what opportunity would there be to make a serious mistake?

Overall, this is good.

Although Li Wei still doesn't have much of a chance to compete for the position of head of the family, he can at least avoid being killed by those two bitches, Fila and Penny, through ordinary plot-driven eliminations.

Yes, that's entirely possible if his contribution to the family isn't high and he doesn't become a family elder.

Next, Li Wei waited quietly, and as expected, neither Fila nor Penny initiated any plot-driven deaths, and Fila didn't even donate her personal assets to increase her family contribution.

It seems they've already given up.

However, Li Wei estimates that if Fila donates all of her money, her family contribution could even reach 70 points.

In short, it's not that she's not good enough, it's just that Penny is too amazing.

The position of head of the household is now a foregone conclusion.

“Mom, George, it’s almost autumn, and we need to prepare for the winter. We need to expand our house and strengthen its insulation, stock up on more firewood for the winter, reinforce the fence around the yard if possible, and also stock up on food for the winter and harvest the wheat. These are all very important. We need to work harder to get through this winter.”

"What do you think?"

Penny spoke up, which practically set the tone for the main quest issued by the head of the household.

Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief. Penny hadn't gone crazy and insisted on concentrating all the family's resources on mining iron ore. For their family, winter would be a very harsh challenge, and they couldn't afford not to prepare in advance.

Fila remained silent, lost in thought.

“I will be responsible for harvesting the wheat and planting winter wheat. I will also be responsible for reinforcing the courtyard wall and helping with the expansion of the house. But the specific work will have to be done by you, sister. When I have free time, I can also go out to hunt some game.”

Li Wei spoke up, outlining some areas he was capable of handling. He didn't want to mine, and Penny probably wouldn't agree either, as it was her private territory. The craftsman and miner professions complemented each other perfectly.

“Oh, my dear brother, you are truly the pillar of the family. It’s so wonderful to have you here.” Penny smiled broadly. Although the main quest of the head of the family is mandatory, if any family member fails to complete it, resulting in a lose-lose situation, then the head of the family will also suffer.

This time, in particular, the family has expanded to include two more people: Missy is George's fiancée. So the work he's taking on now actually involves both of them.

"I don't know much about farmland, George, you can take care of that yourself. You can also handle the reinforcement of the fence. As for the house expansion, you just need to cut down fifty small logs. That way, we'll have enough firewood for the winter."

"For hunting, refer to this month's standards."

"Besides that, I also took care of the tool repairs and the replenishment of the iron arrowheads."

Penny quickly determined the scope and amount of work Li Wei would have to do next month. It was a heavy task, but it was necessary. If they didn't work hard in the fall, it would be too late when the mountains were blocked by heavy snow.

(End of this chapter)