Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely-Chapter 152 - 119: Materials Exhausted, Archery Competition 【Warm Sun Giant Adds 2/10】

Chapter 152: Chapter 119: Materials Exhausted, Archery Competition 【Warm Sun Giant Adds 2/10】

Clang... Clang... Clang... Clang... Clang...

Hiss...

Ten days later, inside the Blacksmith Room.

Xia Hong, Luo Yuan, Xia Chuan, and Zhao Long, all shirtless, were hammering away at the iron ingot on the furnace, the clanging of the hammer echoing incessantly;

On the left side of the room, several people from the Craftsmen Workshop submerged the red-hot iron ingot into a wooden barrel filled with clear water, which immediately generated billowing smoke. Once the temperature of the iron ingot cooled, they promptly sent it to the furnace, handing it over to Xia Hong and the others for further hammering;

On the right side of the room, Mu Dong was directing two people to stretch one end of the Teng Jiao Spine tightly while pulling the other end himself, installing the spine onto the already forged Iron Core Bow.

At the doorway, people were constantly coming in and out, some delivering Iron Ore, while others stretched their necks to see if a new bow had come out of the forge.

Twang...

Mu Dong, having finished stringing the bow, pulled firmly on the Iron Core Bow in his hand, confirming that both the tension and the sound were fine. He immediately looked up and shouted towards the doorway:

"The thirty-second Iron Core Bow is ready, come grab it quickly."

"Coming, coming, coming!"

Before he could finish speaking, Shi Ping, who was waiting at the door, had already rushed over. After taking the new bow from Mu Dong’s hand, Shi Ping exclaimed in astonishment:

"So fast? It’s only been half the night and the leader has already finished two."

"Yes, the leader is getting faster and faster at forging. Tonight alone, he might single-handedly forge three bow bodies, and with Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Zhao Long, they should be able to make six tonight."

Shi Ping turned his head to look at Xia Hong standing by the furnace, a deep respect rising in his eyes.

"Everyone below is waiting; I’ll take the bow over first."

Mu Dong nodded, watched Shi Ping leave, and then continued organizing the Teng Jiao Spine with two others, preparing for the next bow.

"In ten days, thirty-two bows; the iron and coal resources have kept up with the consumption. At the current pace, the number of Iron Core Bows should break a hundred in just ten days!"

Even though Xia Hong had been forging nonstop, he clearly heard the conversation between Shi Ping and Mu Dong. After estimating the progress a bit, he realized that they were only ten days away from completion, allowing his nerves, tense for ten days, to finally relax a little.

In the past ten days, he wasn’t just staying here forging iron.

After forging two bows on the first day, the next night he took the Hunting Team to the North Slope at the mountain wall. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on their side, and they didn’t encounter any lone Rodents. Using torches to lure them was too risky, so they had no choice but to abandon that and prioritize hunting Teng Jiao.

The Rodents were too many and couldn’t be provoked easily, unlike the Teng Jiao.

Past the outer perimeter of 500 meters, there were quite a few Teng Jiao inside Redwood Ridge. Last time, they had spotted three; previously, they had dealt with one, and that night Xia Hong led the Hunting Team to handle the other two all at once.

Tests showed that Teng Jiao indeed use their tails to sense enemies, but the range is limited to roughly ten meters. As long as the distance is managed precisely, starting with bow and arrow, followed by a main attack with a large axe, hunting them wasn’t too difficult.

The two Teng Jiao yielded two venom sacs, over forty pounds of Teng Jiao Saliva, and 75 meters of spine. Adding the previous 38 meters, Xia Hong now had enough materials to craft fifty-six Iron Core Bows.

The spine was sufficient for now, but the next challenge was securing more Iron Ore.

With the help of two Chewing Teeth Chisels, the seven of them could at most mine 1300 pounds of Iron Ore per day. At that time, Yuan Cheng’s injuries hadn’t healed, and with only six people, the output was even lower.

Realizing it would take a long time to gather enough Iron Ore, Xia Hong could only take risks, bringing Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan each day to the North Slope by the mountain wall, trying their luck.

Fortunately, their luck changed on the third day.

Two Rodents unexpectedly wandered out of the North Slope.

Xia Hong seized the opportunity, using torches to lure them from the extreme position and successfully hunted two Rodents, adding another Chewing Teeth Chisel to the camp.

With three Chewing Teeth Chisels, the seven of them managed to mine up to 1600 pounds, enough to forge five Iron Core Bows a day, with some extra to spare.

Of course, to minimize bow-making time, as long as they had enough Iron Ore materials, only three people were left to mine in the cave while he led three others to forge bows. If there wasn’t enough Iron Ore for all four to be forging simultaneously, they would descend to help with the mining.

In this way, the efficiency was much faster.

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Zhao Long used iron hammers made by Xia Hong. Initially, the three of them could only forge two Iron Core Bows a night, but as they forged more, their skills improved quickly, with each of them now capable of crafting one bow each night.

Of course, with the added advantage of a polishing stone and being the strongest among them, Xia Hong’s forging skills were even higher. Initially, he could only forge two bows in a night, but now, he could single-handedly forge three.

[Resources: Wood 30295, Coal 1021, Iron 40, Silver 0, Gold 0]

"Iron Ore is about to run out, and in three more nights, the Teng Jiao Spine will nearly be used up too. It’s time to hunt more Teng Jiao. Plus, I need to check the movement of the Rodent group at the North Slope, try my luck, and see if I can encounter any lone Rodents. It would be best to obtain two more Chewing Teeth Chisels to increase the speed further!"

Looking at the dwindling iron resources, Xia Hong’s expression grew serious as he handed the newly forged Bow Mold to the people in the Craftsmen Workshop.

Making bows couldn’t rely solely on Xia Hong and the others in the Earth-digging Realm.

Their main role was to smelt the iron, forge the Bow Mold, and then hand it over to the Craftsmen Workshop for cooling and shaping, string the bowstring, and test a longbow with a pull strength of 5000 pounds by Mu Dong personally, finally considering it fully completed.