Once Senku had firmly secured his position as Village Chief and the Science Kingdom had established itself, construction throughout the village officially kicked into high gear.
To set up long-distance communication lines and build telephones as quickly as possible, everyone in Ishigami Village worked together, mobilizing the entire workforce for an all-out infrastructure push.
Anyone who could work pitched in, except, of course, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
The village's workforce was divided evenly into two groups, each with its own duties.
Half the villagers formed teams and headed into the mountains to develop the mines, focusing on extracting metal ores to stockpile raw materials for later smelting and refining.
The other half stayed in the village workshops, building furnaces, preparing molds, and laying the groundwork for making wire-processing equipment.
But the toughest obstacle in building their infrastructure remained the collection of raw materials.
The key material for communication wires was high-purity copper, yet natural copper ore was scarce and hard to find, and they still had no leads on new deposits.
Despite searching for days, they found nothing. The copper shortage brought the entire wire-making project to a standstill.
Just as everyone was at a loss, Chrome's eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned and rushed straight to his storeroom.
As the village's most experienced ore collector, Chrome was practically a treasure chest with something for every occasion.
At the sight of the copper ore before him, Senku's eyes instantly brightened, and he spoke with approval.
"All right! Didn't think you had it in you, Chrome! You even managed to find ore like this."
Chrome scratched his head, a bashful smile spreading across his face as he waved his hands.
"Heh, it's-it's nothing. I'm just glad I could help."
"Can you find the spot again? We need