Resource Accumulation, Preparing to Depart

Li Wei had always had an idea about the ingredients for a Brewing Stand.

Balrogs.

Blazes were on fire, and Balrogs were on fire too. Maybe materials dropped by Balrogs could also...

Obsidian, diamonds, lava, Balrogs...

Where could he find all of those things at once?

Dwarves.

A Dwarf territory certainly would not lack such things.

Whether it was the Dwarf settlements in the Blue Mountains, the great wonder of Moria in the Misty Mountains, or the Iron Hills, they were all built amid great mountains, where minerals were always plentiful.

And with minerals came superb smelting and forging techniques.

Even if there was no lava, they could use those facilities to melt some manually. That solved the lava problem.

Then there were diamonds. Dwarves had spent all year digging underground, so they had to have quite a few. As long as he was willing to pay a price, acquiring them would not be difficult.

As for the final ingredient, the Balrog... at this point in time, Moria should be full of Orcs, with the Balrog lurking within.

Li Wei did not particularly want to provoke that thing just yet.

Though he had imagined several ways to deal with it—an infinite water source, block trapping, TNT, kiting it with a bow, and so on—what if none of them worked? Wouldn't he just be throwing his own life away?

He still had too few countermeasures.

Li Wei suddenly thought of Smaug. That dragon could breathe fire, so perhaps the materials on its body were fireproof?

Li Wei was growing more and more interested in that dragon.

Whether it was the Balrog, the evil dragon, or his current development, everything came down to one word: Dwarves.

It seemed that he had to make a trip to a Dwarf territory, no matter what.

Opening the paper map, Li Wei looked toward Dwarf lands.

The Iron Hills were too far away, Lonely Mountain had an evil dragon, and Moria was full of Orcs.

That made the Blue Mountains the best destination.

If he remembered correctly, Thorin and the Dwarves of the Clan of Durin were living there at this time.

It would be perfect to stop by while he was passing through.

Surely he would not miss them this time, right?

Li Wei was rather curious to see what this down-and-out Dwarf king looked like now.

Besides that, Li Wei greatly coveted Dwarf craftsmanship. If he could unlock the crafting recipes for Dwarf items, it would likely be a wonderful thing. After all, Dwarf forging was renowned throughout Middle-earth.

But all that could wait.

For the next several days, Li Wei remained busy developing his territory.

That period was busy and fulfilling for Li Wei.

Every day, he went mining like mad, spending half his time digging iron and the other half digging stone to replenish his iron ore and building materials. Whenever his inventory was full, he returned home. Once he had stored everything away, he went straight back out to mine, repeating the cycle over and over.

At night, he took out the ores and smelted them in batches. He also repaired the walls he had previously cut corners on. While repairing them, he made time to check on the animals and feed them. Whenever the crops looked about ready, he harvested them as well.

The feeling of always having something to do, of watching resources visibly increase every moment through his own efforts, was incredibly addictive.

After the walls were repaired, Li Wei looked at the warehouse, which was once again filling with materials. While he was at it, he built a blacksmith shop in the industrial district and moved work blocks such as the anvil and Crafting Table inside.

This was the first building in Li Wei's territory besides the great castle.

After the blacksmith shop was completed, Li Wei, with nothing else to do, circled the castle once more. He suddenly looked into the distance and remembered the forest where he had wiped out the Orc squad.

It was still pockmarked, with large craters blasted all over the place.

After thinking it over, Li Wei decided it was simply too ugly. He brought some dirt and stone with him and leveled out the terrain.

As for the stone pillar that had once reached into the sky, Li Wei had dismantled it long ago. Leaving that thing standing there was an eyesore.

But the mention of stone pillars reminded Li Wei of something else.

MLG Water Bucket.

He had never actually tried it.

Without further delay, Li Wei returned to his territory, built a high platform, and made a small pool beneath it.

Then he dragged a Wild Boar straight up there.

And kicked it off.

"Snort—"

The Wild Boar lost one point of health from the kick and flailed its chubby little legs in midair as it squealed.

Then, with a splash, it landed in the pool. Its legs did not even bend before it got up and scampered around full of energy.

MLG Water Bucket worked!

Li Wei spread his arms and took a leap of faith on the spot.

The air scraped across his face, making his clothes flap loudly in the wind.

Splash!

He didn't lose a single point of health.

"Awesome!"

Climbing out of the puddle, Li Wei felt thoroughly exhilarated.

From that day on, Li Wei had a new activity: practicing MLG Water Bucket.

That was, pouring the water from a bucket at the instant he landed to avoid taking fall damage.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

"Whoa, 14 speed!"

As usual, Li Wei fed Golden Carrots to his two fastest horses that day. His luck was quite good this time: the two horses with a maximum speed of 13.5 m/s produced a foal with a maximum speed of 14 m/s.

Crossing that threshold meant it could barely be considered to have entered the ranks of good horses.

His movement speed had achieved another new breakthrough.

After half a month of buildup, the ranch was now full of thriving life, no longer the lonely sight of just a few cows and pigs.

Forget live chickens, cows, and pigs—even the meat had nearly filled a whole chest.

Yet as Li Wei looked at the ranch, he always felt that something was missing.

What was it... Right, sheep!

"How did I forget about those?"

Though there were no sheep, Li Wei honestly hadn't felt much need for them. He didn't lack meat, and wool was only useful for making carpets and beds.

No demand, no production.

Still, out of a certain compulsive urge, Li Wei decided that he would bring back two sheep the next time he returned from a journey.

It was about time, too.

The settlement was flourishing, and there was nothing else that needed building.

It was time to set out on a new journey and search for something new.

But before that—

Li Wei opened the mineral chest, looked at the rows of Iron Blocks inside, and took out more than a dozen stacks.

Then, he placed them throughout the settlement.

One Iron Golem after another was born.

Before long, more than two hundred Iron Golems had appeared in the settlement. Once these Iron Giants came into being, they began patrolling along the outermost perimeter, above and below the walls.

Two hundred Iron Golems sounded like a lot, but once they were spread across the walls surrounding the entire settlement, they seemed rather few.

Each Iron Golem had its own designated patrol area. Normally, they would not wander around and interfere with activity in the settlement, only gathering when the settlement was in danger.

With this army, even if an Orc force numbering in the thousands came next time, Li Wei would not have to fear for the settlement's safety.

Its security could be considered guaranteed.

After placing the Iron Golems, Li Wei turned his head toward the chicken coop, practically sharpening his knife in anticipation.

A moment later, two stacks of feathers had been added to his backpack. The chicken coop was half empty, but it was soon filled again by chicks hatched from thrown eggs.

After all this time, he had already collected several chests of eggs. He was in no shortage of them.

After slaughtering the chickens, Li Wei went to the warehouse and rummaged around until he barely managed to scrape together a stack of flint, all of it byproducts from mining.

At this point, what he intended to make was obvious.

Arrows.

After the previous battle, Li Wei had deeply realized the truth that reach was strength. Whether he ended up needing them or not, it was never wrong to carry some combat supplies.

After crafting four stacks of arrows, Li Wei took out sixteen gold ingots and made two Golden Apples.

Another trump card for saving his life.

If he ate a Golden Apple together with Lembas, Li Wei's life would become absurdly hard to take for ten seconds.

"I wonder if the elves would like these." Looking at the Golden Apples in his backpack, Li Wei decided that the next time he went to Rivendell, he might give one to Agra as a gift.

Unfortunately, even after searching the entire settlement, he could only make two right now. Most of the gold had been used to make Golden Carrots for feeding horses, and his reserves were truly insufficient.

Not enough. Far from enough.

At that moment, Li Wei began setting his sights on Trolls again. But constantly draining them dry like this was not a sustainable solution.

It would be great if there were a gold mine.

Journeys always came without warning.

Before he knew it, traveling far and exploring had become Li Wei's normal routine.

With a backpack full of supplies and strategic reserves, Li Wei chose a bright morning, led out the fastest horse from the stable, fitted it with a saddle and horse armor, and officially began his next journey.

Westward, to the Blue Mountains!

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