Ding…
In the valley mine, an iron ore the size of a palm was chiseled from the rock wall, fell to the ground, and made a crisp sound.
Sweating profusely, Bruce first put down the sheep horn chisel in his hand, then picked up the iron ore on the ground, his face full of exhaustion.
"Fifty pounds, five units, coal is running out, iron too, hunting must be paused, time must be allocated specifically for mining."
[Resources: Wood 23210 Coal 35 Iron 59 Silver 0 Gold 0]
Bruce sighed.
This past month, he allocated a third of his time specifically for mining coal and iron, yet it's still not keeping up with the consumption rate.
Currently, all the camp's iron and coal are almost exclusively used for preparing materials for a soon-to-be-built wooden house and making essential tools.
Even so, it's still not sufficient.
No, it's not insufficient.
Without the large quantities of coal and iron left by George earlier, the plan to build the new wooden house couldn't even be initiated.
According to the plan, though the main structure of the new wooden house uses Golden Frost Wood, for stability and to extend its lifespan as much as possible, a considerable amount of iron is still needed for the key parts, connections, and internal structure.
To accommodate more people, Bruce set the specifications of the new wooden house to be very large, two hundred meters long and fifteen meters high, divided into three layers.
As a result, the building difficulty and materials used are naturally astonishingly high.
"Four months have passed since planning began, with a total of eight hundred meters of ground stakes, yet less than one hundred meters have been driven.
This is even after I've reduced my hunting trips to allocate more time for driving stakes. As for wood preparation, it's almost sufficient. According to Edward, the required iron can be prepared in just over two months. That means the hardest part is still the ground stakes."
Bruce furrowed his brow; the iron needed for the new wooden house is a one-time requirement, and since the main structure is wood, the demand for iron ore isn't high.
So he tries hard to allocate time for mining iron ore.
Coupled with the significant amount of iron ore left by George before, it's barely enough.
The ground stake problem remains unsolved.
In the entire camp, only he is in the Earthripper Realm, and the ground stakes can only be dug by him.
If others in the Axeheart Realm want to dig, they must use coal stone to soften the ground, which again ties into the problem of insufficient coal.
It seems that in two months, even if the materials are ready, we'll have to wait for all the ground stakes to be driven before we can start construction.
Bruce took a deep breath and didn't think any further.
He picked up the sheep horn chisel beside him, preparing to continue mining iron ore.
But just as he was about to dig, Charlie entered the mine excitedly, shouting at him from afar.
"Brother, someone has broken through again!"
Clang…
Bruce continued chiseling without even turning his head, casually asking, "How many this time?"
Lately, there have been breakthroughs in the Axeheart Realm every night, sometimes five or six people at once.
The total number of people in the Axeheart Realm at the camp has already exceeded a hundred, so he's a bit numb to it, no longer as excited as he was initially.
"Seven people, and… Aaron."
Seven people, adding up to the previous hundred and three, makes a total of one hundred and one in the Axeheart Realm at the camp now.
Wait…
"Aaron broke through too?"
Bruce instinctively calculated the total number of people in the Axeheart Realm.
Realizing Charlie mentioned Aaron also broke through, he suddenly tossed aside the sheep horn chisel he was holding, then turned to look at Charlie to confirm once more.
Seeing Charlie nod, Bruce immediately showed a joyful expression and rushed out of the mine without a second thought, with Charlie hurriedly following behind.
Although the Iron Refining Furnace can heat up to a radius of a hundred meters, the fire's range is still limited.
Considering the increasing number of people practicing martial arts outdoors at night, and coupled with the valley's sufficiently hidden terrain, Bruce had ordered people to light a bonfire for illumination outside every night.
Of course, this bonfire is extinguished during the day.
When Bruce stepped out of the mine, he saw everyone gathered around the bonfire and quickly fast-walked over.
"The leader is here, make way!"
Charlie rushed in front of him, shouted a few times, clearing a path.
Bruce followed the opened path into the crowd, seeing Aaron vigorously swinging a sheep horn chisel at the ground stakes under the bonfire's light.
With every chiseling, soil from beneath was continuously dug out.
The new wooden house's ground stakes have been driven over a hundred meters.
The softened ground at the rear of the wooden house is where the Iron Refining Furnace burns coal, softening the ground.
The part Aaron was digging into hadn't been softened by coal stone and was originally the only section only Bruce could work on.
And now, Aaron was able to dig too, which was self-explanatory.
Seeing firsthand that Aaron had indeed broken through to the Earthripper Realm, Bruce felt an immense surge of excitement in his heart.
"Edward, bring the clothes!"
With a joyful expression, Bruce turned and instructed Edward.
Seeing Aaron still working, he quickly ordered him to stop and then called him up.
"Leader, from today, you don't have to work so hard anymore. I can now help you dig ground stakes too, haha!"
The newly broken-through Aaron was clearly in an excellent mood, wiping sweat first, then waving the chisel at Bruce with a tone full of joy.
Bruce was initially stunned by his words, then realized why Aaron immediately started digging after his breakthrough;
He looked around at the camp members, whose eyes, though filled with admiration, contained a trace of guilt as well.
After thinking it through, Bruce slightly softened his expression, feeling relieved about what had happened.
For this period, it was Bruce who led hunting expeditions, mined coal, mined minerals, and dug ground stakes.
Clearly, his efforts of multitasking for a long time to serve the camp people weren't in vain.
"Don't get happy too soon. Breaking through means more ability, and with more ability comes more responsibility. Now it's just mining and driving stakes. When you get stronger, I might even hand over the hunting to you."
Upon hearing this, Aaron nodded vigorously, his face filled with eager anticipation.
After Bruce finished speaking, he turned to look at the others, saying with a smile, "You all feel sorry for me, right? If you feel sorry, quickly roll and start training.
No matter if it's the Axeheart Realm or the Earthripper Realm, help me with tasks once you've made a breakthrough. That's how you show you care. Just watching me isn't worth a damn. Roll, roll, roll!"
"Leader, I'll go train right away. Don't kick me, don't kick me."
"Hahaha…"
With a mixture of laughter and reprimand, Bruce kicked Tony, who was the closest to him, and Tony grimaced and yelped, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
However, despite the laughter, everyone quickly dispersed and resumed intense training, clearly having taken Bruce's words to heart.
Their reactions brought a few warm smiles to Bruce's face.
When Edward brought the clothes, Bruce personally handed them to Aaron.
Looking at this second Earthripper Realm after him at the Harper Camp, Bruce finally felt some relief from his long-standing tension.
Aaron's breakthrough not only reduces the individual mining pressure and significantly accelerates the staking speed for the new camp house but also improves hunting efficiency.
More importantly, Charlie and the three Reeves brothers aren't far behind Aaron.
His breakthrough means that the four of them are close too.
This indicates that the number of Earthripper Realm members in Harper will soon match Rogel Camp's past count.
If we compare overall strength, the current Harper has already far surpassed Rogel Camp at its peak since Harper now has as many as 110 people in the Axeheart Realm.
"Aaron, from today, when you're not out hunting, you will mine with me. Once Michael, Charlie, and the others break through, the construction on the new wooden house should quickly commence!"
"Yes, Leader!"
Probably sensing the excitement in Bruce's tone, Aaron nodded vigorously, his face full of excitement and anticipation.
---
As Bruce had predicted, ten days after Aaron's breakthrough, Michael also broke through, followed closely by Charlie, Eric and David who all reached the Earthripper Realm within the next twenty days.
More crucially, during this process, the number of people in the reserves breaking through to the Axeheart Realm continued to rise steadily.
By the time the youngest of the Reeves brothers, David Bao, broke through to the Earthripper Realm, the number of people in the camp at the Axeheart Realm had increased from 110 to 140, and according to Bruce's observation of the reserves, this trend was ongoing.
The reserves had a total of 302 people, and only 109 had broken through so far.
Though the break-through would vary due to talent, it would not be staggered for too long.
It can be foreseen, in the near future, the remaining 193 people will all break through, indicating that the current wave of growth in the number of people at the Axeheart Realm in the camp is far from over.
The rapid increase in the number of people at the Axeheart Realm has brought obvious benefits.
Firstly, the speed of wood accumulation has almost doubled, and it can be said that with Harper's current population scale, wood is no longer an issue, with only surplus remaining and no more shortages.
Secondly, Edward's Craftsmen Workshop and Charlie's Camp Supply Station were no longer just led by the three of them.
Both institutions chose some people according to their needs from those at the Axeheart Realm.
Finally, more and more people were working in the valley.
Organizing wood, cleaning up the valley environment, going out to chop wood, exploring the surrounding environment with the logging team, assisting craftsmen with tool-making, helping the hunting team handle Cold Beasts, assisting the camp supply station in organizing the warehouse…
These tasks sound simple.
But in reality, people without the cultivation of the Axeheart Realm simply couldn't do it.
Take the simple task of organizing wood, those trees weighing thousands or tens of thousands of pounds, without the basic strength standard, you couldn't move them at all, and even with a knife, you couldn't chop through them.
If you can't even break the wood, let alone make tools with iron.
Even Edward, who before reaching the Axeheart Realm, had to ask people from the logging team for help while making new cabin fittings.
Initially, Bruce suspected that the Axeheart Realm was the baseline standard for humans in the Ice Abyss World, and anyone below it, without relying on a strong one, simply didn't even have the qualification to survive.
Not to mention going out to chop wood or doing many other things.
Despite the real problems in front of them, there was still a heap of them.
But the increasingly busy scene in the valley camp made Bruce feel immensely fulfilled, feeling that his hard work during this period had not been in vain.
After months of intense and frenzied hunting, he paid not only with effort and fatigue, but both he and the other fifteen members of the hunting team bore many real scars.
Others even had a few close-to-death situations.
Had Bruce not strictly controlled the hunting range to within five hundred meters from the edge, plus having the miraculous medicine Golden Sore Powder, a death in the hunting team would have been highly likely.