Chapter 87

"Four ram's horn chisels, ten saws, five hammers, three iron blades."

Ram's horn chisels for mining, saws for cutting wood, hammers for forging tools and building houses, iron blades for daily cutting of cold beasts—with the four tools placed before his eyes, a flash of brightness instantly crossed Xia Hong's eyes.

Previously, when using the grinding stone to forge tools for the first time, it wasn't that he hadn't thought about forging some practical tools for the camp, but the problem was that iron ore was limited, so he could only make do with weapons first.

Iron tools seem like small things, but wanting to use them is not easy; not to mention popularizing them, that is even more difficult.

From the fact that the Luo Ge camp had the ability to mine for more than ten years but still only had these twenty-plus small tools, one could see a thing or two.

Beside the twenty-plus small tools were 3,000 jin of iron ore and 4,500 jin of coal stone neatly stacked. Xia Hong calculated for a while, turned his head, and spoke to Xia Chuan beside him:

"Chuan, go notify all the Woodcutting Realm people in the camp to come over."

"Yes, Leader."

Ordering people to move all the coal stone and iron ore to the side of the iron-smelting furnace, Xia Hong put in the coal stone, directly placed the iron ore on top to start melting, then brought over the grinding stone, sat on the side, and while checking the cold beast scroll given by Luo Ming, waited quietly for the iron ore to melt.

At the same time, all the Woodcutting Realm members in the camp also came over one after another.

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, Lin Kai, Qiu Peng, Lu Yang, Xu Ning, Xu An, Liu Yuan, Li Yuankun—the ten people from the original Great Xia stood on the left.

As the fifteen people from the Luo Ge camp on the right all arrived, under Xia Chuan's introduction, Xia Hong also learned their names: Luo Yuan, Cheng Feng, Bai Wuting, Bai Dongying, Tong Xinglong, Li Yun, the brothers Li Pingkai and Li Longkai, Zou Yuankai, the brothers Ying Xuan and Ying Yi, the three brothers Zhao Long, Zhao Hu, and Zhao Bao, and Lu Sheng.

Xia Hong recognized the fifteen people on the right at a glance. Luo Yuan, who stood at the very front, was the very person who took the lead in questioning whether he could do it when the meat distribution rules were announced earlier.

Luo Yuan and the three Zhao brothers were equipped with great blades and bows and arrows. The four brothers Li and Ying also carried bows, and the last bow was with Zou Yuankai.

Looking at the standing positions of the other fourteen, all lagging one step behind Luo Yuan, clearly with him as the leader, Xia Hong's mind stirred slightly, and he raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Everyone sit down first!"

Seeing the twenty-five people all sitting on the ground, Xia Hong, while fiddling with the iron ore on the iron-smelting furnace, said: "According to the previously established rules, only the Earth-Digging Realm can enter the hunting team, but it is clearly impossible at the moment, so I want to pick a part of you to enter the hunting team first..."

Speaking of this, Xia Hong paused before continuing:

"The daily cold beast meat share for hunting team members is ten jin."

Hearing Xia Hong's latter sentence, the breathing of the ten people on the left, Xia Chuan and the others, instantly became heavier, and their gazes also became heated;

While the fifteen people on the right, Luo Yuan and the others, clearly did not believe that Xia Hong could hunt so much cold beast meat, so their reactions were relatively flat.

Xia Hong naturally knew the thoughts of Luo Yuan and the others, and he didn't explain, only continued: "I will announce the specific selection method in three days. The night after the day after tomorrow, Xia Chuan, along with Xu Ning, Qiu Peng, Luo Yuan, Zou Yuankai, the three Zhao brothers, the four Li and Ying brothers, and... these twelve will go out hunting with me."

Hearing the names of the previous eleven, there was no look of surprise on the faces of Luo Yuan and the others. Not to mention the great blades and bows and arrows on him and the three Zhao brothers, there were a total of eleven bows and arrows in the camp, and these bows and arrows were in the hands of the eleven people Xia Hong had just read out.

Only when they heard the name Xia Chuan at the end did a trace of surprise appear on their faces, but after glancing at Xia Chuan and thinking of his relationship with Xia Hong, they didn't say anything, only lowered their heads and remained silent.

On the other side, Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, and the others who were not selected had looks of anxiety on their faces.

Seeing the anxiety on the faces of Yuan Cheng and the others, Xia Hong waved his hand gently:

"Don't be anxious. The people from the Huang Zhao and Da Chuan camps haven't arrived yet, so this is not the final list. In three days, when everyone has arrived, I will hold a fair and just selection. At that time, whether you can enter or not will depend entirely on your strength."

After saying this, Xia Hong cast his gaze toward Luo Yuan and the four:

"However, weapons are limited. I'll say it in advance: the camp has a total of five great blades and eleven bows and arrows. Except for the blade in my hand, the other thirteen weapons—whoever enters the hunting team will have the qualification to use them!"

Hearing Xia Hong's words, the expressions of Luo Yuan and the others changed in unison.

Luo Yuan even took a step forward, as if wanting to say something, but meeting Xia Hong's gaze, he still lowered his head and did not speak.

Public use of materials, no private property—no matter which camp it was, it was like this. The Luo Ge camp was like this before, not to mention that these were precious materials like iron weapons.

These weapons left behind by Luo Ming before he left were not for them.

Luo Yuan and the others had privately occupied these few weapons. Xia Hong did not point it out, but naturally, he would not indulge them and let them occupy them.

"The remaining Woodcutting Realm members will temporarily count as members of the woodcutting team. When we go out hunting, your woodcutting cannot stop. From now on, picking crystal fruits also belongs to the woodcutting team. In the selection three days later, you will also be among them. At that time, a captain will be selected based on strength. From now on, woodcutting and picking fruits will all be arranged by the captain, and the captain will enjoy the treatment of hunting team members."

The resource gap for system buildings has always been there. The accumulation of timber certainly cannot stop, and coal and iron are actually the same.

The coal mine previously mined by the Luo Ge camp was in Red Wood Ridge, and its location had already been clearly marked in the map given by Luo Ming; iron ore was even more convenient, located in the cave on the south side of the valley. With ram's horn chisels, it stands to reason that the mining of these two resources should also not stop.

The problem is that there is currently only one Earth-Digging Realm member, Xia Hong. Forging tools, hunting, and all the big and small affairs in the camp all have to rely on him alone. Never mind mining coal and digging iron, even his own cultivation is almost becoming too much to take care of.

One person is really unable to divide himself, so he can only prioritize the important ones.

He had already boasted in front of everyone in the camp, and hunting is the most important thing at the moment. Otherwise, when the people from the Huang Zhao and Da Chuan camps arrive, if the supply of cold beast meat cannot keep up, that would be slapping his own face.

"In a short period of time, wanting to improve hunting ability, relying on cultivation certainly won't work. We can only think of ways from ironware."

Xia Hong looked at the iron ore that was about to melt on the furnace, thought for a while, took the grinding stone in his hand, and began to shape it according to his own ideas.

Before he had been busy for long, Luo Yuan brought a person to his side.

"Leader, this is Mu Dong!"

Xia Hong raised his head to look. A middle-aged man of about forty, with a loyal and honest face, walked out from behind Luo Yuan and bowed respectfully to him.

"I, Mu Dong, pay respects to the leader."

Not knowing what the two were looking for him for, there was some confusion in Xia Hong's eyes.

"Leader, Mu Dong is the only carpenter currently in our camp. He said this wooden house has hidden dangers and said he wanted to talk to you personally."

Carpenter?

Hearing Luo Yuan's words, Xia Hong's eyes instantly lit up, and his eyes looking at Mu Dong instantly became much more heated.

"Leader, because this wooden house was built temporarily after the disaster, it only aimed for speed and did not consider stability and concealment. The wood was also chosen randomly. Over time, even if it is not discovered by cold beasts on the mountain, it will be crushed by accumulated snow. It cannot be lived in for a long time, so we must build a new house quickly."

Xia Hong nodded. He had also discovered the problem with the wooden house before, but because there wasn't much timber, he wanted to wait until there was more timber before talking about it.

"Besides building wooden houses, what else can you do?"

Mu Dong's face was somewhat constrained upon hearing this, explaining: "Leader is joking. I don't even have the strength of the Woodcutting Realm, and I can't even move those trees. How could I build a wooden house? I just learned for a period of time from a previous carpenter master and understand some wooden house structures."

Seeing the confusion on Xia Hong's face, Luo Yuan hurriedly explained: "The Luo Ge camp previously had three Woodcutting Realm carpenters. Two died in the wood puppet ghost incident, and one of them was Mu Dong's master."

Xia Hong didn't need to ask to know that there was another one who must have left with Luo Ming. After thinking for a while, he said to Mu Dong: "From today on, you enter the woodcutting team. The treatment will be according to the woodcutting team members. Before breaking through to the Woodcutting Realm, just stay in the camp. As for the wooden house, I will tell you my concept first..."

Hearing that he had entered the woodcutting team, Mu Dong was already excited, not to mention the fact that he didn't have to go out before breaking through to the Woodcutting Realm. He hurriedly pricked up his ears, concentrating on listening to Xia Hong's subsequent words.

Regarding the new residence of the camp, Xia Hong had long had ideas in his heart, but he was troubled by not having professional people to handle it, and he himself was busy with many things. Now that he finally had a semi-expert, he naturally wanted to make good use of him.

(End of chapter)