Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 38 Wheat Harvest
Li Wei spent the morning cutting down six trees, returned for lunch, and spent the afternoon pruning the branches and dragging them back. In between, he also had time to hunt two pheasants or rabbits.

Indeed, as his archery skills improved, his hunting list expanded once again.

With a bit of luck, you might even hit a running hare.

Of course, this was a one-time occurrence; the rabbit ran too fast, and the tall, dense weeds severely hampered its performance.

The pheasant was just stupid enough, just plain dumb.

Several days passed, and Missy's hand-woven straw sandals arrived. Li Wei also successfully gathered enough wood to expand his house and enough prey for two units. Now, his monthly main quests only consisted of harvesting wheat and reinforcing the camp walls.

The former needs to wait another ten days or so, as the wheat is still a bit green and not ripe enough.

The latter would require cutting down at least fifty saplings. Fortunately, some of the thicker, straighter branches could be used to reinforce the wall. There were no specific requirements for this.

In short, he should be able to complete the monthly main quest within a month.

The only somewhat uncontrollable risk is wind and torrential rain, which could be devastating to the wheat fields that are about to ripen. However, that is unlikely at this time of year, especially since the region has received a lot of rain over the past three months, but it is definitely not a coastal climate.

The more troublesome but temporarily controllable risk is the encroachment of birds and animals on the wheat fields.

Li Wei has now made twenty-four scarecrows of various colors in the wheat field to scare away birds that want to steal food. Occasionally, he will ambush around the wheat field and shoot an arrow when a bird tries to fly down, scaring it away. However, hitting the target is somewhat difficult.

Then there are all sorts of small animals. As the wheat ripens, they seem to know from birth that the grain here is delicious, such as flocks of pheasants, rabbits, and all sorts of strange little creatures.

Of course, most of them were blocked by stone walls and fences, and with Li Wei occasionally disguising himself as Lao Liu to carry out ambushes and shootings, it was still possible to control the situation.

Most of the time, he would cut down trees during the day and light campfires around the wheat fields at night, patrolling until late into the night before finally falling into a deep sleep.

It's fine for a short time, but doing this for a long time will severely deplete your physical strength.

Fortunately, Fila promised to serve mushroom soup once a day this month. This seemingly ordinary one-star dish is actually quite good, as it can quickly eliminate fatigue and restore physical strength, preventing Li Wei's physical condition from falling to the critical point.

Yes, there really is a tipping point.

That's the bottom line that can be maintained by awakening at level one of the health values.

The most immediate example is Penny. She makes a round trip between the camp and the iron mine every day, carrying back 100 pounds of iron ore each day. This is because it is one unit, purely physical labor. In just half a month, she has carried back 15 units of iron ore and is already exhausted, looking like a little old woman.

If she didn't have a mushroom and meat soup every day, she probably would be too tired to get up.

"The fence around the farmland is still not high enough. It would be better if there was a sturdier stone wall."

Sometimes, looking at the heavy ears of wheat in the fields, Li Wei felt happy but also worried. Small wild animals could be kept out by fences, but what if a herd of wild boars appeared? That would be a devastating disaster.

"So the current wall is actually substandard; it cannot adapt to the future development of the family."

“We must find a way to upgrade it to a stone wall, but that would require finding a suitable quarry. I’m afraid we’ll have to let Penny, the craftswoman, explore that, since it’s her profession. However, according to the rules, there’s a chance that the farmland I’ve planted will yield higher quality grains.”

"So we still have to cooperate. Even if a person has two professions, it can't cover everything."

"However, given the current situation, it would be difficult to truly cooperate. There is no point in talking about cooperation if it is not the head of the household. It has to be the head of the household, but that involves interests and compromises, and it all depends on the head of the household's ability."

"So this is a head of household simulator?"

Li Wei complained.

In the blink of an eye, another ten days have passed. We were very lucky; it didn't rain. The sky was high and the clouds were light, and the autumn air was crisp and refreshing. The wheat in the two fields was basically ripe and had not been damaged by birds or animals.

Li Wei sharpened his sickle in advance and got up at dawn to harvest. He first selected the most mature and plump ears of wheat to cut and use as seeds for next year. He took two bags full, about sixty pounds, enough to plant three acres of land.

The moment he returned the two bags of wheat to the camp, everyone, including the newcomer Leon, received a message.

[The professional farmer's wheat field has yielded six units of one-star quality wheat seeds, for which he has received an additional 6 family contribution points. Friendly reminder: these seeds will result in stronger wheat seedlings and higher yields per acre when planted. Furthermore, if used to make food, there is a very high chance of producing one-star quality food.]

[Friendly Reminder: Although the wheat field is donated to the family, only the basic harvest from the farmer's work on it belongs to the family. Extra harvests are like overtime, earning extra family contribution points. Similarly, the chef is responsible for the family's three meals a day; ensuring the family is well-fed and watered is the basic requirement, but creating a one-star dish will earn extra family contribution points. The same applies to the craftsman and tailor professions; even using all the family's resources, crafting one-star quality equipment will grant extra rewards.]

Wow, this is really good news! Li Wei's farming career is finally starting to look promising.

However, this was no time to delay. After putting down the wheat, he practically ran out of the camp and began the harvest. He only managed to come back for a quick bite to eat before continuing to harvest without stopping. This was a crucial matter; every minute earlier the harvest was, the sooner things would be settled.

However, since the wheat field was less than one and a half acres, Li Wei finished harvesting it all around four o'clock in the afternoon and bundled it into bunches for easy transport and drying.

If it doesn't rain, ten days or so will be enough to dry them, and then they can be threshed and harvested.

He then did a rough calculation. Although there was no fertilizer and the seeds weren't particularly good, with the blessing of the two-star farmer card and the fact that the soil here was black and extremely fertile, the harvest was surprisingly good, with a yield of about 400 jin per mu. After deducting the seeds, the two wheat fields could yield at least 600 jin of wheat.

This is hope for surviving the winter.

As evening approached, even Fila, Missy, Penny, and Leon couldn't resist coming over to check. Food is always an important strategic resource.

"With food in hand, one has nothing to fear. George, this is all your credit."

Fila praised with a beaming smile, because this was also a major benefit for her. With a greater quantity and variety of food, she, as a chef, would have more room to showcase her skills and create better dishes. This would not only earn her more experience points but also more family contribution points.

She especially coveted those six units of one-star wheat; once it was in her hands, creating new one-star quality food would be a breeze.

Even two stars!
This is much better than the one-star mushrooms, which are not easy to collect and their yield is not very stable.

Unfortunately, this thing can't be moved!

These are seeds!

The others also had smiles on their faces. They certainly wanted to develop their careers, but the premise was that they couldn't go hungry.

It's worth mentioning that over the past twenty days, Lyon has been fishing and gathering with Fira, and has clearly obtained a one-star fisherman card, but his primary profession has yet to be revealed.

These days, everyone has remained mostly silent, and Lyon has been practically invisible.

However, as time goes by, once Lyon reaches the level of a two-star fisherman, he will be able to catch fish and shrimp of one-star quality, which will also benefit chef Fila.

In fact, Li Wei only understood Fila's original intention today; she was truly cunning and shrewd.

But it's highly likely that once Leon figurees out the rules and logic, he'll break free from her control.

(End of this chapter)