Fish Maw Gel and Feathered Arrows

[You caught two pheasants. Your Family Main Quest progress has increased and now stands at 0.2 units.]

When Li Wei handed the pheasants to Phila and asked her to deal with them, a line of information silently appeared.

So that was how it was calculated. A little crude.

He grumbled inwardly, but didn't pay it much mind. So far, he'd learned the units used to measure some items.

For example, logs might be measured in cubic meters, with one cubic meter equaling one unit. Firewood was probably measured the same way.

Dried wild vegetables were measured by the basketful, roughly three kilograms per unit.

Wet wild vegetables were measured at five times that amount.

One unit of iron ingots was one kilogram.

One unit of charcoal was five kilograms.

Unfortunately, he still didn't know what standard supplies were required to clear the game, or how much one unit amounted to.

When you were under someone else's roof, you had to abide by their rules.

Li Wei's thoughts wandered as he rested at camp for a while, watching Phila deftly pluck and prepare the pheasants. She also cleaned the five fish in the creel, each weighing at least three or four jin. Her movements were so smooth and graceful that they seemed like an art form. Without a doubt, if Phila had obtained a Butcher Card, she would already have reached two stars.

That meant she was a dual-class player too.

They'd soon eat the two pheasants, but the fish were being made into dried fish because they were Phila's personal property.

"George, take these pheasant feathers and wash them. They can be used to make arrows, but the feathers need to be cut, fitted, and glued on. These fish bladders can be boiled down into fish maw gel. You're a good boy, so you should learn how to do all this. Mom believes in you."

Phila spoke with a deeply satisfied expression, not the slightest hint of awkwardness.

A real expert—and a sly old fox.

But the next second, a line of information appeared.

[Professional Chef*** is offering to sell you five fish bladders for making fish maw gel and is willing to teach you a few tips on how to make it. You must pay 50 points of any type of experience to purchase them.]

As expected, Phila was definitely an expert at wilderness survival in the real world. She even knew how to make fish maw gel.

But 50 points of any type of experience was far too expensive. It was equivalent to the experience he'd get from killing ten young pheasants.

Besides, the bladders from these five fish wouldn't be enough, would they? He felt like he'd run into a capitalist who deserved to be hung from a lamppost.

For a moment, Li Wei's feelings were complicated. He was genuinely tempted to vote for a Plot Kill and get the old bitch killed.

But then again, if it had been Penny, she probably would've demanded an even higher price. She surely knew how to make fish maw gel; those two feathered Wolf Fang Arrows he'd had before were ones Penny had made at some point.

Penny hadn't even considered teaching him. After all, making Feathered Arrows was a skill—and a business. Unless he specifically requested them as part of the Family Head Main Quest, Penny wouldn't make arrows for him for free.

So what could he do? His knowledge was lacking, and he had no choice but to take the loss.

After turning it over in his mind for a long while, Li Wei finally accepted his fate and traded 50 points of Hunting Experience for the fish maw gel recipe.

Phila proved trustworthy enough and explained in great detail how to boil it down, how to control the temperature, and other key points, such as never letting it boil. Once it was done, he had to cool it in cold stream water for several hours. She also told him about the conditions the surrounding environment needed to meet, and more.

She even took special care to tell him that only the pheasant's flight feathers and tail feathers could be used.

"George, I've heard that goose or eagle feathers are the best for making arrows. Pheasant feathers aren't as good, and they're prone to getting damp, moldy, and worm-eaten. If you manage to make any, make sure you store them properly."

"Also, although oak is hard, it really isn't suited to making arrow shafts. You can use Ash Shafts or Bamboo Shafts instead."

Phila had told him a great deal this time, almost as if she were sharing everything she knew.

Li Wei had certainly learned a lot, but at the same time, he couldn't help wondering what Phila was up to. Her intentions were rather complicated.

After a long while, he suddenly realized that Phila was playing both sides against the middle.

When Penny grew stronger, she would support him.

When he showed signs of growing stronger, she would side with Penny.

This woman was awfully confident. Wasn't she afraid she'd take it too far?

Or was she preparing to become Family Head next month?

After that, even though it was still early, Li Wei decided not to go hunting. He followed Phila's instructions, first picking out suitable pheasant feathers, then boiling them to remove the oils and soften them before trimming them into the right shape.

Then he boiled down the fish maw gel. Whether it worked or not wasn't important; what mattered was practicing and gaining experience until he could keep improving.

After all, Feathered Arrows counted as important strategic supplies.

As a hunter, he might become an Archer in the future. He had to master every step.

At noon, Penny still hadn't returned, which showed that she must have gone somewhere far away.

Her goal was to find more Iron Ore, or maybe even locate an iron mine.

That wouldn't be easy, but if she really found one, she might be able to turn things around.

At that thought, Li Wei finally understood what Phila had been doing that day. She was both trying to win him over and preparing for any unexpected events that might occur.

In the afternoon, Li Wei kept boiling down the fish maw gel. It took careful attention to the heat because the gel couldn't boil and the temperature couldn't get too high. He couldn't leave it to do anything else, and he nearly ruined it several times.

At dusk, as the sun sank in the west, Phila returned, leading the Old Ox. Penny came back too, looking exhausted. The first thing she saw was what Li Wei was doing. Then she glanced back at Phila, looking somewhat annoyed.

It should have been a steady, long-term business, but that old bitch had sold it cheap just to undermine her. Still, she could only bury her annoyance deep down. After all, they were a loving family.

Li Wei put away the fish maw gel he'd finished boiling and took it to the stream to cool. This process also took quite a while, and he couldn't guarantee its quality or consistency. Still, it should be good enough for a short time.

After working late into the night, Li Wei had his hands full, selecting and cutting arrow shafts, then gluing on the feathers with fish maw gel. At last, he managed to make four feathered Wolf Fang Arrows.

Even so, they couldn't be considered proper arrows yet. Over the long time ahead, he'd have to test them bit by bit, figure out the ideal balance point for the shafts, check whether they spun evenly, and test their accuracy in actual shooting.

Only then could he get the best results from them in combination with his Professional Hunter talent.

In any case, he was full of anticipation for the future.

Over the next few days, Li Wei hunted while also learning to weave fish traps like Phila and catch fish. From time to time, he also set traps in the Riverbed to catch fish. The fish could count toward the Family Main Quest, and the bladders could be boiled down into fish maw gel.

Since fish maw gel couldn't be stored for long, he had to make it fresh whenever he needed it, then use it to make proper Feathered Arrows and store them somewhere cool and dry.

Li Wei's archery continued to improve as well. His arrows were becoming more and more standardized, and their overall specifications were getting better. He could now hit pheasants in flight with perfect accuracy from within twenty meters.

That's right: in the areas around the forest where he didn't need to venture deep inside, pheasants were the most plentiful prey. They had become his most common quarry, and he could shoot three to five a day on average. On a lucky day, he could shoot seven or eight.

As the Family Main Quest progressed, he also accumulated more and more feathers suitable for making arrows.

By an optimistic estimate, he could gather enough to make fifty proper arrows by the time he completed this month's quest.

As for Phila and Penny, they were even more driven, leaving early and returning late, working from dawn until well after dark as they competed to become Family Head next month.

Who knew which one would come out on top?

But as a newcomer, Li Wei was perfectly happy to watch and learn how to handle internal conflicts. The tricks these two bitches had already pulled had taught him a great deal.