Special Main Quest

After Penny had assigned Li Wei his task, Mixi suddenly spoke up.

"Why don't we look for coal? Iron ore deposits are often found alongside coal, aren't they?"

"Oh, my dear Mixi, you know so much. Why don't you do the mining and dig for coal, then?"

Penny smiled, but her gaze was cold. Everyone knew that coal was often found alongside iron ore, but they still had to actually dig it out. With the family's current resources, they could only mine the exposed iron ore on the surface. Even that would take who knew how long. And she wanted them to dig for coal, too? The coal seam was twenty meters underground. Why didn't she go dig it herself?

"Sorry, big sister, I'm afraid I wouldn't be up to it. I'm better at sewing clothes and even making armor, like leather armor and chainmail. We need to trade with the outside world, so how can we have no means of defending ourselves? What if someone attacked us with a hidden weapon?"

"How about this: the three of us take turns tending the furnace and working at the blacksmith shop. We'll also take turns doing a little mining. As for the rest, we can leave it to George. He'll have to farm and chop wood, but he'll still have plenty of free time."

Damn!

Li Wei stared at Mixi in surprise. You little—so being a veteran player meant you could throw your weight around?

He immediately shook his head and refused. Sure, the more work he did, the more contribution points he'd earn, but that wasn't how they should look at this.

"I probably won't have time to mine. Planting the winter wheat comes first."

At Li Wei's words, Penny fell silent in thought. Now that she was head of the household, she could force people to take on Main Quests, but with more people in the family, she also had to consider the possibility that they wouldn't cooperate.

If a family member would rather make it a lose-lose situation than complete the task, she, as head of the household, would take a serious hit to her reputation. Phila was a case in point.

Honestly, she was wary of Mixi, a veteran player who had already cleared the game once. She had no idea what cards Mixi still had up her sleeve.

That wasn't like George, Phila, and Lyon, who were all new players with empty pockets and nothing to their names. They wouldn't dare risk a lose-lose situation. Even if someone took advantage of them, they could only swallow their anger.

That was why she'd chosen a relatively gentle approach this time, hoping to reach an agreement and make it a win-win.

But Mixi had probably seen through her intentions, which was why she dared to make such outrageous demands. The implication was clear: I can walk away if I want. I'm a veteran player, and I'm not afraid to lose. I've got resources from the previous round. Do you dare gamble against me?

Penny didn't dare gamble against her. So she turned to Li Wei again. Her not-so-obedient little brother was comparatively easier to negotiate with, as long as she offered him a fair price.

"George, would you like a recurve bow?"

Oh! A recurve bow!

At Penny's words, Li Wei finally smiled. Whatever Mixi was up to was her business, but he liked Penny's attitude right now. That was more like a head of the household.

"Sure! But I'll need a steel pickaxe and an axe, as well as better food supplies. If I'm going to the mines, I plan to come back every few days. Also, can we make a plowshare?"

Li Wei agreed, then immediately laid out his conditions.

"I wouldn't recommend camping out in the wilderness. We can talk about that once we've built a house at the mine. The other conditions are all fine, but the plowshare will have to wait until next month, when we have enough iron ore in reserve and enough time to forge it." Penny actually agreed.

"Okay. I'll take your advice."

Li Wei nodded. That settled his part. He was willing to sacrifice everything else for a recurve bow.

Then Penny emphasized one more thing. "At the end of this month, I'll take some people out of the mountains, depending on the weather, to buy salt at Kahe Castle. This will take all of us working together. Someone will need to stay behind to maintain the small blast furnace and look after the livestock."

"So I suggest Mom and Lyon stay at the family camp. George, Mixi, and I will go out to trade. It'll be very dangerous. We could be struck by disease, hunted down and put up for a bounty by the lord's men, or extorted by the guild. We need to be thoroughly prepared."

"But no matter how dangerous it is, we have to obtain salt, an essential resource."

Seeing that no one objected, Penny finally announced the household's monthly Main Quest.

The next second, two lines of information appeared before Li Wei.

[The head of the household has issued this month's household Main Quest. You must plant winter wheat, chop and process five units of oak, and mine and transport no fewer than ten units of ore, with no upper limit. The time limit for this Main Quest is thirty days, with a possible extension to forty days. In theory, you will earn at least 20 Family Contribution Points.]

[The head of the household has staked her reputation to issue a special monthly household Main Quest—foreign trade. Establish trade connections and purchase salt. This will be a mission fraught with risks and crises. Its rewards and penalties cannot yet be assessed, and you cannot refuse or object.]

After reading the messages, not only Li Wei but the other family members fell silent. There was no doubt that Penny's bold move would mark a major turning point for the family. Its future, its prosperity or decline, would all depend on this.

"Let's work through the night."

Penny called out, then set off with Mixi and Lyon to start preparing for primitive steelmaking. They'd already had a plan for it and made the necessary preparations, but had put it off until now because of the monthly Main Quest.

Li Wei didn't join them. He simply watched the three of them work nonstop. At this rate, they'd probably be able to smelt molten steel in two or three days. That would be a huge boon for all three of them. By comparison, the fishing, hunting, and farming that he and Phila were responsible for seemed insignificant.

Thinking this, Li Wei took out his short knife and began his routine work of shaving arrow shafts and practicing archery. The future was uncertain. The only sure thing was to make himself stronger.

At dawn the next day, he slowly woke in his little room. After the house had been expanded, the original single room had become four: one large room and three small ones.

The large room was meant to serve as a hall. A fireplace had already been built there, making it a good place to rest, eat, and keep warm in winter. Phila and Penny lived there.

Li Wei, Mixi, and Lyon lived in the other three small rooms. They no longer had to crowd together, and they were all sleeping much better.

Penny and the others had clearly stayed up all night. Penny and Lyon looked exhausted, while Mixi was still full of energy. With high attributes and a healthy body, she could afford to be that carefree.

Li Wei didn't concern himself with their progress. Every trade had its own mysteries, and he neither understood nor could make sense of theirs. He'd stick to what he was good at.

His tasks for the day were to turn the soil and dig an irrigation channel, bringing water from the stream to the three fields. It had only rained once this past month, and the soil was far too dry. They couldn't plant winter wheat in it; they had to irrigate it first.

Fortunately, the terrain here was excellent, and Li Wei had chosen a good location for the fields. He only needed to build a dam upstream, a little over five hundred meters from the fields, and he could divert the stream water to them.

First, he dug a channel connecting the fields to the stream. Then he carried stones from the stream and built a small dam. He didn't even need to block the stream completely; some of the water naturally flowed along the channel he'd dug.

He watered the newly cleared field first. In the meantime, he used the shovel to turn the soil in the other two fields so the water could soak through. If he simply flooded them, the water wouldn't actually penetrate the soil.

Since they'd already grown a crop in those two fields, they were much easier to dig and turn over now. He finished in half a day, but the shovel was practically worn out by then. They needed a steel shovel.

Once they had a plowshare next spring, the work would be much easier.