Negotiations

After two rounds of Plot Kills, the family soon settled back into peace, and nothing else happened.

Mixi glanced thoughtfully at Li Wei, then at Phila and Penny. She smiled, seeming to understand: Family Elders were exempt from ordinary Plot Kills.

Then there was nothing to worry about.

That night, only Lyon tossed and turned, alone and unable to sleep. He'd achieved the feat of being the only one who got hurt.

Nothing happened over the next few days,

because those three days were everyone's free time.

Phila continued gathering and fishing, building up her personal wealth.

Penny kept hammering away in the Blacksmith Shop, using the remaining iron ingots to make all kinds of tools and weapons, such as the Iron Arrowheads she'd promised Li Wei.

Li Wei had spent a whole day helping her crush Iron Ore before, and she still owed him for the favor.

Likewise, Mixi had spent a day swinging the hammer for her, and deserved an equal exchange. As for the newcomer, Lyon, since there was no monthly family Main Quest, of course she could get his labor for free.

Li Wei, meanwhile, made the most of his time, clearing farmland in suitable areas around the camp. But the tools still weren't quite up to the task. The iron shovel's surface-carburized edge wasn't hard enough, making it difficult to dig quickly through ground packed with grass roots.

So Li Wei borrowed Penny's Pickaxe. Yes, she'd forged it for herself at some point. It had been surface-carburized too and was plenty hard—in fact, it worked great for breaking up soil.

He first used it to dig holes all over the ground and remove the stubborn plant roots and stems, then used the iron shovel to dig up the soil.

That made the work much more efficient.

He had plenty of strength now, and could clear half an acre in three days.

During those three days, Mixi actually went hunting with the Hunting Bow Penny had made for her, taking an iron spear along. So was her first profession a seamstress, and her second a hunter?

But just as expected, over those three days, Mixi caught little more than a dozen loaches and a hundred or so grasshoppers. She came back empty-handed otherwise—oh, no, that wasn't quite true. She'd also picked some mushrooms of unknown toxicity, a few pretty little flowers, and a pile of Wild Fruit.

She had a pretty good attitude about it.

Li Wei, meanwhile, focused entirely on clearing farmland. He even skipped his usual evening archery practice, working in the dark as if his life depended on it.

These were three days of freedom, and any land cleared during this time belonged to the person who cleared it. Even if he donated it to the family later, he'd earn a large number of Family Contribution Points.

In the blink of an eye, the three days passed, and the month came to an end.

Li Wei had successfully cleared half an acre of land, and promptly chose to donate it to the family. Since nothing had been planted or harvested, he received only five Family Contribution Points. But that didn't matter at all. What Li Wei wanted was to grow Winter Wheat on a large scale next month.

The one-star-quality seeds now belonged to the family. He couldn't use them to plant his private fields; that would cross a hard line in the rules. He needed to understand that.

There was another reason, too:

Now that the family had two acres of land, growing Winter Wheat had to be included in the family's Main Quest for the month. It would take up a larger share of the work, and who was better suited to handle it than Li Wei himself?

This would also prevent the head of the family from assigning him too many other Main Quests and disrupting his personal development.

Dinner was a little more lavish than usual. Phila fried some dried fish in fat and even sprinkled a few precious grains of salt on top. It was deliciously greasy, and there was also vegetable and mushroom soup, along with some ripe Wild Fruit.

The family of five gathered together and ate happily. But afterward, everyone except the uninformed Lyon looked solemn, waiting for that moment to arrive.

Soon, a line of information appeared before them all.

[Since Professional Craftsman *** has the highest Family Contribution Points, she has been re-elected head of the family. She will continue to manage and issue the family's Main Quests for next month.]

Li Wei, Phila, and even Mixi took it in stride, since it had been a foregone conclusion. Even if Penny hadn't donated anything this month, her Family Contribution Points would still have started at 140. There was simply no catching up to her.

It was worth noting that Phila hadn't donated any supplies to the family this month either, so her Family Contribution Points were likely around 80 at most, while Li Wei had reached 83.

Mixi had only single digits left, and Lyon had zero.

The guy was utterly shocked. He'd probably realized that the family had gotten his labor for free all month, but there was nothing he could do about it. As the family settled into a routine, exploiting newcomers would only become more systematic and finely tuned.

"Next month, I plan to focus on Primitive Steelmaking. I want to modify and expand the furnace. We need steel tools and weapons—that's where our advantage in outside trade will come from."

Penny spoke slowly, brimming with confidence. As she looked around, she had the air of a born leader.

"But to build a Small Blast Furnace for steelmaking, I'll need everyone's support. For example, someone will have to mine Iron Ore and transport it. Someone will have to cut oak and turn it into charcoal. I can't do it all by myself."

"Also, once we light the Small Blast Furnace, it's best to keep it running continuously for more than twenty days. So we have to make this a regular operation—not just next month, but every month from now on. Stopping the furnace without warning would cause huge losses, and it's dangerous, too."

"And speaking of that, we need to talk about the overall layout of our family camp. The simple iron-smelting furnaces can stay inside the camp, but the Small Blast Furnace for steelmaking must be far from the living area and the farmland's water source. So we should start planning to build a bigger wall."

"Now, I need someone to manage the Small Blast Furnace on a regular basis. He won't have to handle other family matters; he'll only need to tend the furnace. Who'll do it?"

"I will! I'll take care of it!"

Lyon was the first to raise his hand, which basically confirmed that his first profession was craftsman.

"Good. Next month, you'll build the Small Blast Furnace and the surrounding structures with me. Once we light it, we'll take turns managing it. We'll also share the work in the Blacksmith Shop."

Penny made the decision without batting an eye. She was probably pleased. The newcomer, Lyon, had effectively become her natural ally to some extent.

As for Phila, she'd given Lyon a two-star Fisherman Card for nothing, and in the end, she'd gained nothing from it.

"The problem now is that Lyon and I won't have the time or energy to cut wood, make charcoal, and mine and transport ore. Those two jobs are important. I can take responsibility for making the charcoal, of course, but we'll need someone to cut down the oak and split it into pieces of the right size."

Penny didn't assign anyone directly. She simply laid out the task. This was the monthly Main Quest, the top priority. If they didn't complete it, they could forget about doing anything else.

"Ah, I'm getting old. All I can do is gather and fish. People have to eat, after all. And I'll still make sure there's a bowl of Mushroom Meat Soup every day."

Phila played up her age, and indeed, no one could take her place. For example, only she could find those one-star-quality mushrooms, which were essential for making Mushroom Meat Soup. The meat itself didn't matter much—wolf or fish, either would do.

In fact, a few times last month, Phila had even used rat meat instead, and the whole family had still enjoyed it.

Penny hadn't expected her to take on anything else. She nodded. "All right, Mom. You've already worked very hard. But if you happen to find some salt while gathering, that'd be great. Of course, I'm just saying if."

Then she turned to Li Wei.

"What about you, George?"

"This month, I need to prioritize planting Winter Wheat. It might take a few days," Li Wei said after considering it.

"That's fine. Once the Winter Wheat is planted, how about you take charge of cutting down the oak and splitting it into firewood? I'm not asking for much. You just need to supply enough charcoal for the furnace each month."

Penny seemed fairly fair this time, but that was precisely how her ambition showed. She wanted to establish order within the family instead of making a mess of things, dragging her feet, and scheming for petty gains at the family's expense!

Even though she was an expert at exactly that.

In short, she wanted to clean up her image!