Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 43 Special Main Mission
After Penny finished assigning tasks to Li Wei, Missy suddenly spoke up.

"Why not look for some coal? Aren't there usually coal mines near iron ore mines?"

"Oh, my little Mimi, you know so much! Why don't you come and mine for coal?"

Penny laughed, but her eyes were cold. Everyone understands the principle of coal and iron being found together, but you still have to dig them out first. With all the resources their family has, they can only mine open-pit iron ore on the surface, and even that would take forever. They want to mine coal? The coal seam is only twenty meters underground. Go dig it!

"I'm sorry, sister, I'm afraid I'm not up to the task. I'm better at sewing clothes, and even making armor, such as leather armor and chainmail. We need to trade with the outside world, so how can we not have any means of defense? What if we encounter a situation where someone is attacked from the shadows?"

“How about this, the three of us will take turns watching over the blast furnace and taking turns forging at the blacksmith’s shop. At the same time, the three of us will also go mining on a small scale. As for the rest, we’ll leave it to George. Although he has to farm and cut down trees, he still has plenty of free time.”

Grass!
Li Wei looked at Mi Qian in surprise. "You bastard! Just because you're a veteran player doesn't mean you can act like a hooligan!"

He immediately shook his head and refused. Although he had done a lot and received a lot of contributions, this matter could not be calculated in this way.

"I probably won't have time to go mining; winter wheat planting is the priority."

After hearing Li Wei's words, Penny pondered. Although she could forcibly assign main tasks after becoming the head of the family, now that there were more people in the family, she also had to consider the possibility of family members not cooperating.

If a family member prefers to lose both sides rather than complete the task, then the head of the family will suffer a major blow to her reputation, as Fila is a prime example.

To be honest, she was still wary of Missy, a seasoned player who had already completed the game once, because she didn't know what tricks Missy had up her sleeve.

Unlike novice players like George, Fira, and Lyon, who are penniless and start from scratch, they wouldn't dare to play a lose-lose game and can only suffer in silence if they are outmaneuvered.

Therefore, she intends to use the relatively gentle approach of negotiation this time in order to strive for a win-win situation.

But Missy probably saw through this, so she dared to ask for an exorbitant price. The implication was that she could just quit if necessary, that she was a seasoned player who wasn't afraid of losing, and that she had the trump cards she had accumulated from the previous round. Did she dare to bet with her?
Penny really didn't dare to gamble with her, so she looked at Li Wei again, her somewhat dishonest younger brother, who was relatively easier to reach an agreement with, as long as a reasonable price was offered.

"George, would you like a recurve bow?"

Alas! A recurve bow!
Upon hearing Penny's words, Li Wei finally revealed a happy smile. It was Missy's business how she did things, but he liked Penny's attitude at this moment. That's how a head of the family should act.

"Okay! But I need a steel pickaxe and an axe, as well as better food supplies, because once I go mining, I plan to come back every few days. Also, could you make a plowshare?"

Li Wei agreed and immediately stated his conditions.

“I don’t recommend you camp in the wild. Let’s wait until we build a house at the mine. Everything else is fine, but the plowshare will have to wait until next month. We have enough iron ore reserves and enough time to build it.” Penny actually agreed.

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Li Wei nodded, he had settled this part; for the sake of the recurve bow, everything else could be sacrificed.

Then Penny emphasized, "At the end of this month, depending on the weather, I will lead a group out of the mountains to Kah Fortress to purchase salt. This requires the coordinated efforts of all of us. Some people need to stay behind, for example, to maintain the small blast furnace or to graze the livestock."

“So my suggestion is that you and Leon stay at the family camp, while George, Missy, and I go out to trade. This will be very dangerous. We are not only likely to be attacked by the plague, but we may also be hunted down and have bounties placed on our heads by the lord’s men, or even be extorted by the guild. We must be well prepared.” “But even if it is dangerous, we must obtain salt, an important resource.”

Having said that, seeing that no one had any objections, Penny finally decided to release the monthly family main quest.

The next second, two lines of information appeared in front of Li Wei's eyes.

The head of the household has issued the main family quest for the month. You need to complete the planting of winter wheat, the felling and decomposition of five units of oak, and the mining and transportation of no less than ten units, with no upper limit. The main quest has a 30-day time limit, which can be extended to 40 days at the latest. Theoretically, you will get at least 20 family contribution points.

The head of the household has used her prestige as a gamble to issue a special monthly family main quest: foreign trade, establishing channels, and purchasing salt. This will be a quest fraught with risks and crises; rewards and penalties are currently unavailable, and you cannot refuse or object.

After reading the message, not only Li Wei, but all the other family members fell silent. Undoubtedly, Penny's bold move would be a crucial turning point for the family. Their future, their rise and fall, would hinge on this one move.

"Let's work through the night."

Penny gave a call and set off with Missy and Leon to prepare for the primitive steelmaking process. They had actually already made some plans and preparations for this, but it had been delayed until now because of the monthly main quest.

Li Wei didn't participate; he just watched the three of them working tirelessly. Judging by their speed, they would probably be able to smelt steel within two or three days, which would be a huge benefit for the three of them. In comparison, the fishing, hunting, and farming that he and Fila were in charge of paled in comparison.

Thinking this, Li Wei took out his short knife and began his routine of cutting arrow shafts and practicing archery. The future was uncertain, and only by becoming stronger could he truly succeed.

The next day at daybreak, he slowly woke up in his small room. After the house was expanded, the original one room became four, one large and three small.

The large room is intended to be used as a hall, and a fireplace has already been built, making it suitable for resting, eating, and keeping warm in the winter. Fila and Penny live here.

The remaining three small rooms were occupied by Li Wei, Missy, and Leon. They didn't have to squeeze together, and their sleep quality improved a lot.

Penny and the other two had clearly not slept all night. Penny and Leon looked exhausted, while Missy was still full of energy. With high attributes and good health, one can be so willful.

Li Wei didn't care about their progress. He knew that different fields were like different worlds, and he didn't understand them, so he just did what he was good at.

His task today is to plow the land and dig irrigation ditches to bring water from the stream to irrigate three farmlands. There has only been one rain this month, and the soil moisture is very poor, making it impossible to plant winter wheat. Irrigation is necessary first.

Fortunately, the terrain here is quite advantageous, and the location that Li Wei chose to cultivate the farmland was also good. All that is needed is to build a dam more than 500 meters upstream of the stream to divert the water.

He first dug irrigation ditches to connect farmland and streams, then moved stones into the streams to build a small dam. He didn't even need to block all the stream water; some of the water would naturally flow along the dug ditches.

He first irrigated the newly reclaimed farmland, and then used a shovel to turn over the soil in the remaining two farmlands to ensure the water was thoroughly soaked; otherwise, flooding would not actually irrigate the land thoroughly.

Having already planted a crop, the difficulty of digging and turning the soil in these two fields had been greatly reduced, and it was done in half a day. However, the shovel was basically ruined, as it was impossible to work without a steel shovel.

It will be much easier next spring when we have plowshares.

(End of this chapter)