Chapter 16
“Do you wish to accept the task to craft ‘Iron Arrowheads’?”
System Prompt:
“Craft ten iron arrowheads to receive 100 Copper Coins.”
“This task can be accepted repeatedly.”
Compared to tasks like rushing to harvest rice, Su Wangchuan naturally chose a manufacturing task that could bring him greater benefits.
Rushing to harvest rice might generate money quickly in the early stages, but as the rice fields near the village were cleared, the round-trip distance would grow longer and longer, and the efficiency would continue to drop. How could that compare to working comfortably here?
Besides.
Mastering the ability to craft iron arrowheads was far more valuable than merely knowing how to forge ordinary sabers.
Arrowheads were consumables!
Blacksmith Sun had no idea how much thought Su Wangchuan had put into this. When he heard Su Wangchuan agree, he immediately pulled the bellows and stood before the forging table to demonstrate. “Forging arrowheads is different from forging other weapons or farming tools.”
“Arrowheads are light and sharp. They do not require much pig iron.”
“They also do not need too many forging cycles. Repeated forging thirty to forty times is enough to achieve folding.”
“The joint needs to be handled carefully…”
Blacksmith Sun carefully controlled his strength, giving detailed explanations and forging demonstrations for the arrowhead and the joint separately.
Under Blacksmith Sun’s deft control, the arrowhead continuously deformed, rotated, and was hammered again and again. Very quickly, the concrete outline of an arrowhead took shape.
“This is a crude arrowhead. Later, it will still need polishing and sharpening. I will arrange for several hunters to handle those steps.”
“Why don’t you give it a try?”
Blacksmith Sun gestured.
Su Wangchuan immediately stepped forward, scooped a small amount of refined molten iron, and poured it into the arrowhead mold. His movements were smooth and practiced, just like those of a veteran blacksmith.
Crude arrowheads were actually not that complicated. First, they were repeatedly folded and hammered to remove impurities and increase toughness.
Once it was about right, the front end was slowly hammered into a sharp, flattened shape. The rear connection hole barely needed adjustment—just rotate and hammer it into the proper specifications.
The difficulty of forging an ordinary crude arrowhead was far lower than forging Hundredfold Steel ingots. He easily completed the first one.
Using his already competent Hundredfold Steel forging skills to make ordinary arrowheads was like using a butcher’s cleaver to kill a chicken.
After inspecting it, Blacksmith Sun nodded, indicating approval.
After that, it was simply following the same steps again and again, mechanically repeating the process.
The entire forging process was very fast.
Each arrowhead took less than about ten minutes.
By the end of the night, a full basket had been filled.
Blacksmith Sun arranged for villagers to come and carry them away.
Su Wangchuan quickly realized something.
This money-making speed was a bit ridiculous.
One hundred arrowheads brought in one hundred large copper coins, equivalent to one thousand copper pieces.
In a single night!
Finished weapons really did have astonishing profit margins.
No wonder great nations all wanted to become arms dealers.
Su Wangchuan suddenly felt the urge to switch professions.
Since forging weapons was so profitable—far exceeding mining—he truly hoped that after the autumn harvest, similar tasks could continue for a longer period.
The only regret was that forging arrowheads did not unlock any new skills, nor did it grant any attribute bonuses.
The next day.
Su Wangchuan reported early to Lin Dahai that Blacksmith Sun had assigned him a new task, so he would be unable to participate in the rice-harvesting mission.
Lin Dahai and the others did not say much—after all, the village was safe.
And…
Su Wangchuan was no longer a newcomer.
“Then we won’t wait for you.”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
“Harvest the rice!”
A group of miners transformed into merciless sickle-wielders and rushed out of the village.
Su Wangchuan stayed at the blacksmith shop, transforming into a merciless machine. One crude iron arrowhead after another piled up, and by noon, he had completed one hundred pieces…
One thousand copper pieces earned.
In the afternoon, another thousand copper pieces.
At night!
Over the course of an entire day, aside from eating, drinking, and basic necessities, Su Wangchuan devoted all his time to crafting crude iron arrowheads. His daily income was equivalent to half a month’s earnings for an ordinary miner.
However.
A mere four hundred crude arrowheads clearly could not satisfy Blackstone Village’s needs.
He saw that the village guards and hunters were all carrying quivers on their backs.
Early in the morning, in front of Wang Dalang’s flatbread stall, he saw Lin Dahai.
Lin Dahai told him that yesterday, hunters had discovered a group of wild boars in the rice fields near the mining area. After an exchange, the wild boars were wounded and fled, while several hunters were injured.
Heipi described it vividly.
“Wangchuan, you have no idea. Those wild boars weighed at least three to four hundred jin. Their hides were thick as hell. Iron arrowheads barely made more than a hole on the surface.”
“Many of those boars had more than a dozen arrows stuck in them. They looked like porcupines and still acted like nothing was wrong.”
“Tsk tsk!”
Everyone sighed in amazement.
“…”
A chill ran through Su Wangchuan’s heart.
He finally understood why Master Blacksmith Sun had insisted that he continuously forge iron arrowheads.
With this level of consumption, the three hundred arrowheads forged yesterday had already been completely used up.
Old Li sighed from within the crowd.
“Good thing we were farther away and didn’t run into the wild boars. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t have been able to outrun them.”
Heipi chimed in.
“Look, there are clearly fewer miners here today.”
“Everyone is afraid of dying.”
“If you die, your account gets deleted, and you lose your job.”
“Rather than earning this money, it’s better to wait out these seven days and mine safely.”
Wei Zhe and Zhang Kai exchanged looks. Both of them began to waver.
Lin Dahai said,
“It’s not that easy.”
“The village can lack iron, but it absolutely cannot lack grain.”
“If the rice is not fully harvested, the iron mine will never be able to start operations.”
“…”
After thinking it over, everyone agreed that it made sense.
“When harvesting rice, everyone should stay together as much as possible. Do not split off from the main group, and especially do not stray too far from the village hunters…”
“Mhm.”
The main group left the village.
With a heavy expression, Su Wangchuan returned to the blacksmith shop.
Blacksmith Sun had already been waiting for some time.
When he saw Su Wangchuan enter, Blacksmith Sun spoke solemnly.
“Yesterday, the village hunters drove off a group of wild boars. Thanks to the iron arrowheads you forged. But today, they will definitely come back to ravage the crops. The stockpile of arrowheads is already running low.”
“Wangchuan.”
“The two of us, master and disciple, will have to work harder today! We must ensure these wild boars are suppressed. Otherwise, if less grain is harvested, the village will have a hard winter.”
“Yes, Master.”
Su Wangchuan nodded repeatedly and accepted the task to craft crude iron arrowheads once again.
Master and disciple immediately got to work, clanging and banging as they moved swiftly.
The blacksmith shop became lively.
During this time, the village chief personally brought villagers to carry away the newly forged iron arrowheads.
The village chief also brought grim news.
Today, a hunter had accidentally been gored through the abdomen by a wild boar’s tusks while on patrol. He bled profusely. Although he was carried back in time, even if he survived, he would most likely be left severely disabled, a ruined man.
Fortunately, under a united counterattack, the village hunters shot and killed two wild boars, greatly boosting the villagers’ morale. Otherwise, the village miners might have fled long ago.
Blacksmith Sun’s expression turned ugly. The clanging rhythm of his hammering began to change.
Su Wangchuan looked over in shock.
He heard his master say in a deep voice,
“Wangchuan, ordinary iron arrowheads are very difficult to use against wild boars in a lethal way. I will now teach you how to forge Hundredfold Steel arrowheads.”