Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 39 Newcomer Leon
“I’m planning to smelt a batch of iron in the next few days, George. Can you help me for a couple of days? I’ll come help you with the reinforcement of the wall later.”

At this moment, Penny suddenly spoke, her voice hoarse, and she looked like a dark-skinned, thin old woman, older than Fila.

For the past twenty-odd days, she has been mining iron ore from dawn till dusk, while also carrying ore back home, weighing 100 kilograms a day and trekking more than ten miles of mountain roads. It's hard to imagine that this is the same Penny who was full of life and healthy and energetic just last month.

But she should have gotten the two-star miner card by now.

"can!"

Li Wei nodded. Penny was a worthwhile trade partner because his hunting bow was about to break, and he needed her to make him another one, or perhaps a recurve bow or something similar.

Such cooperation is very necessary.

After that, no one said anything more. They ate dinner in silence and went to bed early. Li Wei and Leon routinely patrolled the camp with their wooden spears. Next, he was to carve arrow shafts and practice archery as usual.

At this time of day, Lyon would usually be back in his room resting. He hadn't had an easy time these past few days either, as Fira treated him like an animal. All his former virtues and modesty had long been forgotten. He would squeeze into his room, grit his teeth, fart, and talk in his sleep, sleeping soundly like a pig.

But today, Lyon sat down by the campfire and watched Li Wei craft arrow shafts. After a long while, he finally spoke: "George, Penny has been working too hard these days. I heard she's going to expand her house. I plan to start helping her from tomorrow, just like you. Of course, after the house is expanded, I can also help you reinforce the walls."

Huh?
That's a pretty good way to put it.

No, it's that Leon has finally found the blind spot. He should already understand that everyone is a player with their own profession, but because they haven't experienced any plot-driven deaths, haven't participated in the monthly family main quests, and haven't even earned any family contribution points, they must have some doubts about the core of this game.

But he seems to be a very intelligent guy; such a long period of observation should have allowed him to collect and analyze a lot of results.

Is he going to test the waters further now?
“Okay, sure. To be honest, I feel really sorry for Penny. She’s our own sister. A few months ago, ever since her fiancé Sam was eaten by wolves, she couldn’t get over the grief and had to keep it all buried inside. In just a few months, she’s been ravaged like this.”

“Leon, I’m glad you noticed these things. I don’t need you to help me reinforce the wall; you can help her.”

Li Wei spoke earnestly.

He was stating the facts, and what Penny thought was none of his business.

Everyone, roll it up!

Moreover, he also wanted to use this opportunity to find out what Lyon's primary profession was.
Never underestimate any newcomer.

This is a rule of thumb.

The next morning, after breakfast, when Leon claimed he would help Penny blacksmith to expand the house, the fleeting anger on Fila's face was so clear in the sunlight.

However, she didn't say anything, nor could she say anything. With Leon's help, her monthly family mission was basically completed. From any perspective, she had no reason to keep Leon, while her daughter Penny was almost exhausted, even though theoretically Penny's gains were equally huge.

Li Wei, Penny, and Missy remained silent, choosing to remain silent. Ang's choice here is quite subtle. From the perspective of the plot, it makes no mistake, but from the player's perspective, one has to speculate: could Ang's first profession be craftsman?
In short, let's observe and see.

"Bang bang bang!"

Under the sunlight, Li Wei swung his hammer, smashing pieces of iron ore into smaller pieces. After smashing over a hundred pieces in one go, he handed the hammer to Leon. This was a physically demanding job; you really couldn't break it without putting in the effort.

This process is part of quenching molten iron. Similar to the earlier charcoal burning, fortunately, there's still plenty of charcoal left, so there's no need to go through that trouble again.

Penny is setting up the furnace. She needs to layer and mix the crushed iron ore with charcoal, which is a technical job and requires the bonus from her two-star craftsman card.

Li Wei doesn't have a related profession, so he won't learn anything from it, and he doesn't intend to learn it by stealing. He already has two professions, and the right path is to master what he has learned and become a master.

Of course, he would occasionally observe Leon, watching his hammer swings, the force he used, and his breathing rate. By comparing these observations with his own, he could roughly deduce Leon's specific attributes.

Overall, Leon's strength should be roughly the same as his, around 10 points. After all, he didn't start with cancer. However, his movements are not standardized, and his power generation skills are slightly inferior. Li Wei's hard work over the past few months has accumulated skills in coordinating and balancing various parts of his body, which is something that Leon, a newcomer, cannot match.

But you can tell he's studying hard.

In addition, his stamina is clearly insufficient.

Li Weineng swung the sledgehammer over a hundred times in one go, while Leon swung it over thirty times and was already covered in sweat, his hands trembling, and he was about to lose his balance.

Moreover, Li Wei could rest for a while and then be full of energy again, swinging the hammer for another hundred or so times, while Leon hadn't even had a chance to rest yet.

At first, he was trying hard to keep up with Li Wei's pace, but after a few rounds, he could only lie on the ground panting heavily, his forehead covered in layers of cold sweat. He was too weak.

That's why stamina is such an important attribute.

However, the work of breaking iron ore was indeed tough. Before noon, Li Wei was so exhausted that he was almost foaming at the mouth, his hands and feet were cramping, and he collapsed on the ground, not wanting to move at all.

As for Lyon, he had already surrendered three hours earlier; he was even worse than Penny.

Because Penny had already taken the hammer and started smashing it silently. Today, they had to start the fire, so they had to smash enough iron ore to fill a furnace.

It was clearly impossible for Penny to do it on her own.

After lunch and a two-hour rest, Li Wei was almost fully recovered. He picked up the hammer and continued smashing iron ore. Next to him was a dejected Leon. After resting for four or five hours, the guy finally forced himself to come over and keep swinging the hammer.

However, it doesn't matter whether he's there or not; we just need to gather enough iron ore.

As evening approached, Penny sealed the furnace and lit the fire, starting to blow air with the simple bellows she had made. From then on, the process was basically none of Li Wei's business. He didn't even want to interfere with what to do with the molten iron produced, because it was obvious that Penny was planning something big.

At this moment, Fila and Missy came over to help, as did Leon.

"This batch of molten iron will be used first to make nails and saws, which are necessary for expanding the house. Any remaining iron ingots will be forged as needed."

Penny announced expressionlessly that twenty-two days of the month had already passed, and she didn't have much time left. There was no way around it; she had wasted too much time trying to get the two-star miner card.

However, as long as the monthly main quest is completed, there is a high chance that she will still be the head of the family next month, because her contribution to the family is simply too overwhelming.

They were way ahead of Fila, who was in second place.

(End of this chapter)