Technically, with ample supply of Cold Beast Meat, the significance of Crystal Fruits diminishes, considering only over a hundred people in the camp don't receive Cold Beast Meat.
Calculating two kilos per person per day, they wouldn't consume much even in a year.
But in reality, Cold Beast Meat, as a training resource, cannot replace the staple.
Presently it is sufficient mainly due to the small population at Harper Camp.
In the future, as the population grows, with a large base of ordinary people, Crystal Fruits will remain indispensable.
Even just as a reserve food supply, continuing to gather Crystal Fruits is necessary.
More crucially, Bruce, using a Medicine Decoction Pot, identified that Crystal Fruits not only satiate hunger but also have medicinal uses.
Over the recent days, using the Medicine Decoction Pot, Bruce identified over a dozen medicinal materials like Snow Mane Tongue Powder, Frost Wolf Bones, Black Tribulus, Coal Stone, Iron Powder, Golden Frost, Vermilion Frost Stalk, etc.
These more than a dozen medicinal materials cost Bruce over twenty units of coal resources, making him quite distressed.
The most frustrating part was the failure to generate a formula.
It solves the monotony of food; serves as reserve grain; possesses medicinal value; is easy to preserve; and currently, there's not much difficulty in gathering for the camp.
These stacks of factors make harvesting Crystal Fruits an inevitability that cannot be stopped, including the location survey of Ice Trees and checking their growth cycles.
"The current survey only covers a five-hundred-meter range. Keep an eye on this area during future Logging for any omissions. When our hunting range extends inward, your exploration range can expand. Ice Trees still hold significant importance to us, caution is necessary!"
Jason nodded, replying respectfully: "Yes, Leader."
On the other side, seeing Jason finish speaking, Edward hastily handed over a wooden board, his expression vibrant with excitement: "Leader, I've already drawn up the plan for the new wooden building you mentioned earlier. Please check if it matches your vision."
Bruce looked down at the diagram etched with a small knife on the wooden board, immediately showing interest.
Edward quickly leaned in, pointing at the diagram while explaining to Bruce.
"Following the Leader's suggestions, this wooden building is constructed square with a length and width of two hundred meters and a height of fifteen meters, divided into three layers.
The middle layer occupies five meters, serving as the camp hall without room partitions for meetings and events at the camp, where the Iron Melting Furnace and other communal materials are kept.
The bottom layer occupies three meters, leaving a passage and central hall, while other areas are partitioned with wooden boards into rooms ten meters wide.
I've calculated, considering a two-hundred-meter side length, excluding the wall structure, a five-meter wide seventy-five-meter long passage, and a fifty-meter wide square central hall, about three hundred such rooms can be divided, enough for all ordinary people in the camp.
The top layer occupies five meters, similar to the bottom layer, with a central hall and passage, an additional large storage room, partitioned into twenty-meter wide smaller rooms.
I've also calculated, about ninety rooms can be made, enough to accommodate the current Logging and Hunting Team members.
Each floor of the three-story wooden building is separated by a one-meter thick wooden board, with the top constructed in the four-corner conical style you mentioned, covered with Beast Skin against snow, water, and frost wind erosion."
Edward spoke animatedly, with unusual excitement in his tone, evidently showing great approval for Bruce's previous idea of rebuilding the wooden house.
Bruce wiped the sweat off his forehead; he was far from a professional architect, merely suggesting this idea based on a bit of memory he had.
Mentioning it to Edward was just a hopeful attempt, unforeseen that the other party would truly bring it to fruition.
Though aware that the lumber here differs from the wood he knew in the past, but since it's intended for human habitation, Bruce seriously asked, "Edward, do you think building such a wooden building is feasible?"
Edward was momentarily stunned, then immediately nodded, replying, "Of course, it's feasible."
Then showed a slight hesitation, hesitating as he said, "However, there are several very challenging issues that are hard to resolve."
"Tell me, I'll see if there's a way to resolve them!"
After pondering for a moment, Edward replied:
"The massive demand for wood, the variety of tools needed, a considerable amount of iron materials required, and lastly, the extended time for piling; further, some areas might require your hands-on oversight, Leader."
Four major challenges, the first three, according to Bruce, are manageable.
Such a massive wooden house requires an enormous amount of Golden Frost Trees;
Edward knows the basic mortise and tenon structures, and it's certain that a batch of different iron tools needs to be crafted to assist;
Due to the size of the wooden house and the distinction of so many functions, supplementing key parts with a certain amount of iron materials is necessary.
"The hardest part is driving ground stakes, right?"
"At a height of fifteen meters, the structure uses the whole Golden Frost Wood, and the digging depth of ground stakes must be at least two meters.
Calculating from a side length of two hundred meters, you'll need to dig a total trench of eight hundred meters long, three meters wide, and two meters deep."
Upon hearing Edward's answer, Bruce felt a little faint.
During this period, he dug pits and set animal traps for hunting, where each time he only dug half a meter deep, one meter in diameter, and even that took over an hour.
A trench three meters wide, two meters deep, and eight hundred meters long, if truly left to him alone to dig, he estimated it would take one to two years, even if he worked without rest.
The concept of this new wooden house is based on the radiation range of the Iron Refining Furnace.
By his estimation, once built, it could accommodate at least eight thousand to ten thousand people.
It was never intended to be completed immediately.
But taking several years is surely exaggerated.
"Leader, there is a way to shorten the ground staking time!"
"What way?"
Edward pointed at the Iron Refining Furnace and said, "The high temperature from burning coal stones can soften the ground. Once the ground is softened, the people from the Logging Realm can dig.
We can place the Iron Refining Furnace along the outline for driving stakes, moving it section by section, and digging a part each time we move. If the coal stone supply is uninterrupted, I've calculated that it could be done in about four months."
Bruce realized this was indeed the only way and frowned.
It's not that this method is bad, but the issue is it brings a shortage of coal stone.
The Iron Refining Furnace consumes 20 units of coal stones per day, which is a full 400 kilograms of coal stones.
In fact, if it burns wood, it only requires 5 units per day, and the temperature range improved would be the same as with coal stones.
But the problem is that the softening of the ground relies on the heat emitted by coal stones, just like melting iron ore, which cannot be achieved with wood, so coal stones must be used.
[Resources: Wood 2690, Coal 290, Iron 430, Silver 0, Gold 0]
These days, the accumulation of wood resources is rapid.
During the hunting trips, he also visited coal mines several times, and as heard before, with his current strength, he can only mine around 200 kilograms a day, and the speed for iron is even slower.
The method proposed by Edward, with a continuous daily consumption of 400 kilograms of coal stones, is simply unrealistic, yet it is the only way to speed up the staking process.
It's impossible to let him drive stakes alone!
There must still be enough people from the Axebreaker Realm and Earthripper Realm.
Without strength and resources, nothing will work out.
"Let's go with this method first. Jason, when you take the Logging team out to cut trees, try as much as possible to choose Golden Frost Trees. The size and thickness needed will be communicated between you and Edward. I won't interfere with this matter for now. Whatever iron tools are needed, Edward, let me know, and I'll forge them when I find time."
"Yes, leader!"
Edward and Jason nodded, turning together to leave.
Driving stakes is certainly the hardest part; the other preparations are easier to talk about.
To move into a spacious large house in a short time is certainly not possible.
Just as the two left, Charlie and Tony came looking for him again.
"Leader, the Cold Beast Meat has been distributed tonight, and our current reserves of Cold Beast Meat have reached 11,300 kilograms, all stored in the mine on the south side of the valley."
In six days, combined with the extra 1,640 kilograms from the first day, the Cold Beast Meat reserves have reached over ten thousand kilograms, entirely within Bruce's expectations.
Over six days, the hunting team could bring back two to three prey each night, but only consumed six to seven hundred kilograms, so the surplus is normal.
In extreme cold environments, long-term preservation of Cold Beast Meat is naturally not a problem.
However, considering the future, the reserves of Cold Beast Meat would continue to increase.
After pondering, Bruce looked at Charlie and Tony and said, "The camp's wood, Cold Beast Meat, coal, iron, tools, and weapons will all need dedicated management in the future. I'm planning to set up a Camp Supply Station. For now, only two positions are needed: a primary and an assistant Camp Supply Officer. Can the two of you handle it?"
Charlie and Tony exchanged a glance, a hint of excitement flashed across their faces, nodding simultaneously at Bruce.
Bruce did not hesitate, calling everyone together and directly announcing the two as Camp Supply Officers, with Charlie as the primary, and Tony as the assistant.
Managing all essential camp supplies is crucial, and Bruce naturally had to entrust it to those he trusted most.
Charlie and Tony were the best choices.
The continuous distribution of Cold Beast Meat over seven nights had thoroughly established Bruce's prestige.
Even people like Aaron, Sam, and Ben showed no objections when hearing his appointments.
"Additionally, besides the Camp Supply Station, another institution, the Craftsmen Workshop, will be established, with Edward as the workshop master, responsible for all construction tasks in the camp.
Besides the benefits from the hunting and logging teams, you three will also receive an additional duty benefit of thirty kilograms of Cold Beast Meat per month."
Initially, upon hearing the appointments, the crowd had no particular reaction, but when Bruce mentioned the duty benefit, everyone's eyes instantly lit up.
"Leader, can we join the Camp Supply Station and Craftsmen Workshop?"
Bruce turned his head, noticing a young reserve member asking, and shook his head, "You must be a member of the logging team to apply for these institutions.
Whether you can join depends firstly on the institution leaders' confirmation, and secondly on my approval; the terms for the Craftsmen Workshop can be relaxed if you have special manufacturing skills. Edward can audit and then report to me for approval."
With the current resource inventory of Harper, Charlie and Tony are sufficient for the Camp Supply Station without needing additional people;
The Craftsmen Workshop, however, is flexible.
Even without cultivation in the Axebreaker Realm, with iron tools, some wooden tools can still be crafted.
Upon hearing the Craftsmen Workshop's conditions, many ordinary people in the camp began to think actively.
If they couldn't break through to the Axebreaker Realm in the short term, finding another way into the Craftsmen Workshop for extra Cold Beast Meat to accelerate their cultivation speed would be beneficial indeed.
Special manufacturing skills.
Everyone began brainstorming intensely.
Seeing everyone deep in thought, Bruce also harbored some anticipation.