When the thirty thousand kilos limit is reached, I might as well go explore the Arrow Bamboo Forest like George and ask questions at the giant camp called Beehive.
After testing his strength, Bruce turned around and found that all the people who were just watching were still staring dumbfoundedly at the Force Measuring Stake on the ground without dispersing.
"What are you staring at? Did you stuff yourselves with Cold Beast Meat? If you want to become as strong as me, stop wasting time here and get to training."
Hearing Bruce's teasing, everyone burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, leader, we don't dare compare with you. Breaking through to the Axebreaker Realm is already good enough for us."
"Ate too much Cold Beast Meat recently, feels like I'm stuffed indeed."
"If you can't eat that much, share some with me!"
"Hahahahahahaha…"
---
A few bold kids continued Bruce's joke, bantered with each other a bit, but after a burst of laughter, everyone quickly dispersed and began their own training.
Watching the crowd scatter, Bruce felt much lighter at heart.
Even compared with the situation on the slope before, or even just a month ago, the people in the camp obviously have gained a significant boost in spirit and morale.
Previously, it was incredibly hard to find even a single smile among the people in the camp, let alone any lighthearted joke.
When survival becomes a problem, safety isn't assured, and there's no hope, people can't be lighthearted.
The continuous distribution of Cold Beast Meat has ignited a flame of hope in everyone's hearts.
In the current Harper, while survival isn't entirely secure, and safety isn't fully guaranteed, at least in these people's hearts, there's hope and something to look forward to.
Walking back to the log cabin, the original location of the Iron Refining Furnace had shifted over ten meters to the left.
Along the path of the Iron Refining Furnace's shift, a two-meter-deep trench had appeared on the ground.
Aaron, Charlie, Michael, and Tony, each with a Sheep Horn Chisel in hand, were continuously digging in the trench.
This trench is meant for piling for a newly built log cabin.
"One month, fifteen meters. At this rate, excavating an eight-hundred-meter trench for piling would take about four to five years…"
Thinking about the eight-hundred-meter total length of the trench, Bruce's eyes went a bit dark.
The ground softened by coal stone using the Iron Refining Furnace can indeed be dug through by those in the Axebreaker Realm, but the problem is, firstly, coal stone is limited, and the camp can't burn coal for warmth every day; secondly, there are only thirty-six people in the Axebreaker Realm, who also need to log and hunt, so they can't dig trenches every day.
Therefore, over the past month, Bruce could only allow some Axebreaker Realm people to take turns digging while burning coal stones.
During this time, he himself also joined in digging.
Even the hardened ground without coal stone softening can be dug through by him, but no matter how capable he is at digging, it's of no use alone.
To speed up the piling process, there are two ways:
Either burn more coal stones to speed up the softening of the ground, allowing more Axebreaker Realm people to join in the digging, the difficulty lies in obtaining enough coal stones, which requires a large number of people in the Earthripper Realm.
Or have the Earthripper Realm people dig directly without using coal stones to soften the ground, which also requires more Earthripper Realm people.
So, ultimately, there aren't enough Earthripper Realm people!
This is an unsolvable problem.
Bruce jumped into the trench, grabbed the tool from Aaron's hand, and said:
"You go train. I'll dig for a while!"
"Leader, I'm not tired. I can still dig for a bit, it's okay."
A clueless Aaron thought Bruce was worried about him and wanted to take back the tool, but upon seeing Bruce's insistent gaze, he could only relent.
Aaron climbed out of the trench and, turning back, saw Bruce had already replaced him in digging, a sense of gratitude welled up in his heart as he hurried to train.
"I really can't handle this alone! You kid, if you don't break through soon, neither coal nor iron will last for long!"
[Resources: Wood 6835 Coal 160 Iron 270 Silver 0 Gold 0]
Seeing the coal and iron resources in the system depleting day by day, Bruce's yearning for Aaron to break through to the Earthripper Realm was probably even more urgent than Aaron's own desire.
Wood supply has soared this month, but coal and iron are already in a state of deficit.
Continuing like this, they might run out in just a few months.
The new log cabin is under preparation, with many iron materials needing to be prepared; Edward comes to him almost daily to make things, and a batch of woodworking tools for Edward used a significant amount of coal and iron recently.
His main duty is to lead hunting operations, but he can only spare limited time for mining, resulting in a negligible harvest of coal stone and iron ore, totally insufficient for camp consumption.
If coal and iron run out before Aaron breaks through, Bruce will have to reduce the frequency of hunting trips to dedicate more time to mining coal and iron ores.
Sighing silently, Bruce focused on digging the trench.
After digging for a short while, a prompt sounded in his mind:
[The Medicine Decoction Pot has automatically generated a Golden Sore Powder recipe based on the recorded item]
Hearing the prompt, a flash of joy appeared on Bruce's face.
He quickly put down the Sheep Horn Chisel, walked out of the trench, and headed towards the Medicine Decoction Pot.
When Bruce reached the Medicine Decoction Pot, he saw Jason taking out a pale blue plant from it.
Smelling the plant's faint fragrance, Bruce's eyes lit up.
"Leader, why are you here?"
Seeing Bruce approaching, Jason was slightly surprised.
Noticing Bruce's eager gaze, he quickly handed the plant over to him.
The specific effects of the Medicine Decoction Pot were unclear to Jason.
A month ago, Bruce personally approached him and instructed him to observe the plants outside while Axebreaker, bringing back anything that seemed medicinal or particularly rare and valuable.
Though he didn't understand why, Jason followed Bruce's orders and kept an eye out during the past month, managing to bring back more than ten unique plants.
The Medicine Decoction Pot looked quite magical, but so far, Jason hadn't noticed any practical use.
On the contrary, every time plants were added, an undetermined amount of coal stone had to be consumed to trigger a reaction.
This so-called reaction was merely a faint light emitted from the Medicine Decoction Pot.
Although it appeared magical, without any tangible results, the plants remained unchanged despite time spent inside.
After a while, Jason wondered why Bruce wanted him to do this.
"Where did this Blue Frost Grass come from?"
Blue Frost Grass?
Realizing Bruce was referring to the pale blue plant he had brought back, Jason quickly responded, "It was from the outskirts of Redwood Ridge, growing on snowy ground beside a blue tree. There were many of them, and I detected a faint fragrance, thinking it might be useful. Leader, do you know if the Blue Frost Grass is very effective?"
Though unsure of the Medicine Decoction Pot's specific effects, Jason could deduce a few things from Bruce's previous instructions.
Connecting this with the joy he saw on Bruce's face earlier, he immediately sensed he had brought back something useful.
Hearing that there were many of these plants, Bruce's face lit up with joy.
He quickly asked, "You didn't cut down the tree, did you?"
Jason shook his head and replied, "No, recently we've been focusing on cutting Golden Frost Trees, only going for Vermilion Frost when we can't find any. This type of blue tree is of average hardness, and we didn't cut it since it's the first time we've seen it."
"Then mark the location of the tree; it must not be cut in the future. The Blue Frost Grass is likely a companion plant to that tree and very valuable."
Listening to Bruce's earnest instructions, Jason nodded.
"Grind one stalk of Blue Frost Grass and Black Tribulus into powder, half a kilogram of coal stone powder, one kilogram of Golden Frost, and ten kilograms of Frost Wolf Bones ground into powder, then add water and boil for half an hour."
Looking at the formula for Golden Sore Powder, Bruce's expression shifted slightly, and he instructed Jason to bring Charlie over.
He then relayed the ingredients to Charlie for retrieval from the mine warehouse.
Both coal stone and Blue Frost Grass were readily available, and Black Tribulus grew by the mine;
Golden Frost grows at the top of the Golden Frost Tree, appearing white and oval, somewhat like a fruit.
There's only one per tree, weighing between ten to fifty kilograms;
Frost Wolf Bones, as the name suggests, are the ring of spines around a Frost Wolf's neck.
An adult Frost Wolf has over a dozen, each weighing about ten kilograms.
A while back, Bruce ordered anything deemed medicinally valuable, as identified by the Medicine Decoction Pot, to be collected and stored in the mine warehouse.
Charlie, the Camp Supply Officer, managed these materials and the Cold Beast Meat.
Soon, Charlie gathered all the items Bruce had mentioned.
Bruce personally handled the preparation, quickly readying all the materials.
He then had a large wooden tub of water brought in, threw all the materials into the Medicine Decoction Pot, poured water, added 10 units of coal stone, or two hundred kilograms, and began the concoction process.
At first, everyone was puzzled, but as time passed, a distinct aroma wafted from the medicinal ingredients inside the Medicine Decoction Pot, and they realized that Bruce was concocting medicine.
A sense of anticipation appeared on everyone's faces.
Unsurprisingly, Bruce himself was the most eager.
Golden Sore Powder, based on its name, seemed similar to the golden sore medicine from martial arts novels in his past life, intended for treating external injuries.
This would be extremely valuable medicinally for the current Harper.
Those who stayed at the camp or were members of the Axebreaker team typically remained unscathed under normal conditions;
But for the Hunting Team members, dealing daily with powerful Cold Beasts posed a different challenge.
Though they now had animal traps and Bruce led their missions, as long as they avoided overly powerful or unfamiliar beasts, fatalities were rare, but injuries were unavoidable.
Even Bruce at the Earthripper Realm wasn't exempt, let alone those at the Axebreaker Realm, who frequently sustained injuries from Cold Beasts, often nightly occurrences.
Without medicinal treatment, they could only wait for injuries to heal naturally.
Despite a strong constitution allowing self-recovery from most wounds, more severe injuries could lead to lasting aftereffects, disability, infection, or even death.