Special Main Quest

After Penny arranged tasks for Li Wei, Mixi suddenly spoke.

"Why not find some coal? Doesn't coal often occur near iron ore?"

"Oh, my dear Mixi, you know so much. Why don't you mine the coal yourself then?"

Penny chuckled, but her eyes were cold. Everyone knew that coal and iron often occurred together, but you had to be able to mine it. With their family's current resources, they could only mine the surface iron ore. Even that would take ages, and they were talking about digging for coal twenty meters underground. Go ahead and dig it!

"Sorry, sister, I'm afraid I can't handle that. I'm better at sewing clothes, or even making armor, like leather armor and chainmail. We need to trade with the outside world, so we can't be defenseless. What if we're attacked by surprise?"

"How about this: the three of us will take turns watching the small blast furnace and working at the blacksmith shop. At the same time, we three will also do some small-scale mining. The rest can be left to George, right? He has to farm and do logging, but he actually has plenty of free time."

Damn it!

Li Wei looked at Mixi in surprise. You damn veteran player, you can just act like a hooligan!

He immediately shook his head and refused. While doing more meant more contribution points, he couldn't calculate it that way.

"I probably don't have time to mine. Planting winter wheat is the priority."

Hearing Li Wei's words, Penny fell into thought. Although as the Head of the Family, she could forcibly assign Main Quests, now that the family had more members, she had to consider the possibility of family members not cooperating.

If a family member would rather have a lose-lose situation than complete a task, she, as the Head of the Family, would suffer a significant reputation hit, like Phila before her.

Honestly, she was very wary of Mixi, a veteran player who had already cleared the game once, because she didn't know what trump cards Mixi might have.

Unlike novice players like George, Phila, and Lyon, who were clean slates, starting from scratch, they wouldn't dare to create a lose-lose situation and would just have to endure if they were tricked.

That's why she planned to use negotiation, a relatively gentle approach, to strive for a win-win situation.

But Mixi probably saw through this, which is why she dared to make such an outrageous demand, implying, "At worst, I'll just quit. I'm a veteran player, I'm not afraid to lose, I have trump cards from my previous playthrough. Do you dare to gamble with me?"

Penny really didn't dare to gamble with her, so she looked back at Li Wei, her somewhat unruly younger brother, who was relatively easier to reach an agreement with, as long as she offered a reasonable price.

"George, do you want a recurve bow?"

Whoa! A recurve bow!

Hearing Penny's words, Li Wei finally showed a happy smile. What Mixi did was her business, but he liked Penny's attitude at the moment. This is how the Head of the Family should act.

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

Li Wei agreed and immediately stated his conditions.

"I don't recommend you camp in the wild. We can talk about building a house at the mine when the time comes. Other conditions are fine, but the plowshare will have to wait until next month, when we have sufficient iron ore reserves and enough time to forge it." Penny actually agreed.

"Alright, I'll listen to you."

Li Wei nodded. He was settled. For the recurve bow, he could sacrifice other things.

Next, Penny emphasized, "At the end of this month, depending on the weather, I will lead people out of the mountains to Kahe Castle to buy salt. This requires all of us to coordinate and work together. Someone needs to stay behind, like maintaining the small blast furnace and tending to the livestock."

"So my suggestion is, Mother, you and Lyon stay behind at the family camp. I, George, and Mixi will go out for trade. This will be very dangerous. We might not only be exposed to plagues but also be hunted by the lord's men, or even extorted by the guild. We must be well-prepared."

"But no matter how dangerous it is, we must obtain salt, this important resource."

At this point, seeing no objections, Penny finally chose to release the monthly family Main Quest.

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

[The Head of the Family has issued the family Main Quest for the month. You need to complete the planting of winter wheat, the felling and processing of five units of oak, and the mining and transportation of no less than ten units, with no upper limit, of ore. The deadline for this Main Quest is thirty days, extendable to forty days at the latest. You will theoretically receive a minimum of 20 Family Contribution Points.]

[The Head of the Family has gambled her prestige to issue a special monthly family Main Quest - Foreign Trade, establishing channels and purchasing salt. This will be a mission full of risks and crises, with rewards and penalties currently unassessable. You cannot refuse or object.]

After reading the information, not only Li Wei but also the other family members fell silent. Undoubtedly, Penny's bold move would be a major turning point for the family. The future development, prosperity, and decline of the family rested on this.

"Let's work through the night."

Penny called out and then set off with Mixi and Lyon to prepare for primitive steelmaking. They had already had some ideas and made preparations for this before, but it was delayed until now due to the monthly Main Quest.

Li Wei did not participate, only watching the three of them work tirelessly. At this speed, they would likely be able to smelt steel within two or three days. This was a huge gain for all three of them. In comparison, his and Phila's responsibilities of fishing, hunting, and farming seemed insignificant.

Thinking this, Li Wei took out his dagger and began his routine of shaving arrow shafts and practicing archery. The future was uncertain, and only by strengthening himself was real.

The next day, as soon as dawn broke, he slowly woke up in his small room. After the house expansion, the original one room became four: one large and three small.

The large room was intended to be the living room, and a fireplace had been built, suitable for resting, eating, and warming up in winter. Phila and Penny would live here.

The remaining three small rooms were for Li Wei, Mixi, and Lyon to live in, so they didn't have to squeeze together, and their sleep quality greatly improved.

Penny and the other two had clearly not slept all night. Penny and Lyon looked exhausted, while only Mixi was still energetic. With higher stats and good health, one could be so willful.

Li Wei didn't concern himself with their progress. Different fields were different. If he didn't understand, he wouldn't try to figure it out, and would just do what he was good at.

His task today was to till the land and dig irrigation channels to bring stream water to irrigate the three plots of farmland. In the past month, it had only rained once, and the soil moisture was very poor. Without irrigation, winter wheat could not be planted.

Fortunately, the terrain was quite favorable, and the location Li Wei chose for the farmland was also good. He only needed to build a dam about five hundred meters upstream of the stream to divert the water.

He first dug an irrigation channel connecting the farmland and the stream, then carried stones from the stream to build a small dam. Even without completely blocking the stream, a portion of the water would naturally flow into the dug channel.

He first irrigated the newly cultivated plot of land. During this time, he used his shovel to turn over the soil of the other two plots of land. This was to ensure thorough watering, as large-scale flooding wouldn't penetrate the soil deeply.

Since they had already grown one crop, the difficulty of digging and turning over the soil on these two plots had significantly decreased. It was completed in more than half a day, but the shovel was basically ruined. A steel shovel was essential.

By next spring, with a plowshare, it would be much easier.