The crowd began to come forward to receive their meals, and it didn't take long for everyone to find a seat and start feasting.
Just then, a thin man with a sallow complexion fell to his knees in the crowd, hugging his head and crying.
"Why are you crying!".
Xu Kuang's voice exploded in this man's ears like thunder.
The man choked and said:
"Master, I believe in you, and I thank you. I just feel that it is a pity. It is a pity that my little son did not persist until this day. If he had reached this day, he would not have to die...".
Xu Kuang froze on the spot. He looked around and found that many people had tears in their eyes. He suddenly became at a loss. He put his hand on the man's shoulder and didn't know what to say.
After a while, Xu Kuang patted the man on the shoulder and said to him:
"Eat...".
Xu Kuang found a place to sit quietly and watch the group of people eating.
This group of people ate until the evening. The two pots of mutton soup were filled with water over and over again until only the bones of the mutton were left. Only then did the group stop.
"Have you finished eating?" Xu Kuang looked at the sky and said: "It's getting late today. If you have anything to do, we'll talk about it tomorrow. No matter what the meal is tomorrow morning, you can eat at home by yourself. Meet here before 8 o'clock."
After Xu Kuang finished speaking, he left, leaving everyone confused.
Ryan found Xu Kuang and began to report the situation of this purchase to Xu Kuang.
"For this purchase, the grain purchased was the cheapest rain-drained wheat. I bought almost 50,000 kilograms of wheat and spent a total of 97 gold coins. There are also the axes, chisels, hammers, planers and other things you requested, which cost almost ten gold coins. The grain
The seeds weighed almost 1,000 kilograms and cost 3 gold coins. I spent another 10 gold coins and rented and bought more than 20 mules to get these things back. By the way, there are also lambs of various animals, which are still behind, and they will probably be there tomorrow.
Can come back."
"Then if this means we have no money."
"...".
Xu Kuang scratched his head and felt a headache. If the 50,000 kilograms of grain were divided equally, each person in Moguling could only share less than 40 kilograms. Those with big appetites would eat it all in a month...
"Cuihua, is there any way to make money?".
Mission: Make money
Mission content: Obtain two hundred gold coins before the first day of next month to completely solve the food problem.
Mission Difficulty: c
Mission reward: professional experience x1000."
Xu Kuang looked at the mission reward and fell into deep thought. He was not a person who couldn't turn his head around. Looking at the reward, he understood one thing, that is, if he wants to make money now, he must use his status as a priest.
.
Xu Kuang slapped his head and realized that he hadn't signed in yet today.
Xu Kuang said to Ryan:
"Grandpa Ryan, I still need to think about this matter. You can go back first. I will give you an answer within seven days."
Ryan thought for a while and finally said what he was holding back in his heart:
"Master, don't think I talk too much. I know you are kind-hearted, but you can't save so many people. The year before last, last year, and this year we suffered severe drought for three consecutive years, and the price of food in Baihua County is rising day by day.
, have you ever thought about how they will survive in the spring even if the winter is over and the drought is no longer there?".
Xu Kuang frowned slightly. He actually agreed with Ryan's statement, but he also understood that now was not the time to dwell on these things. If he didn't think carefully about the countermeasures, there would be no one in Mushroom Ridge next year.
Xu Kuang's words were a little more solemn:
"Grandpa Ryan, these are indeed problems you mentioned. But if there are problems, we must solve them instead of running away. I still say that population is our last wealth. If everyone in our territory starves to death, then
We can’t even bury ourselves, we can only expose our bodies in the wilderness like them, do you understand?”.
Ryan opened his mouth. He realized that Xu Kuang was right, so he had to hold back:
"I understand, Master.".
"Grandpa Ryan, I don't mean to blame you, you...".
Ryan smiled happily. He looked at Xu Kuang with only love in his eyes:
"I won't think too much about it. If you can really become a master, I can close my eyes."
Ryan saluted Xu Kuang, turned around and left.
Xu Kuang felt very heavy. He had never suffered from hunger in his two lives and had no experience in dealing with it. But he understood one thing. These two hundred households with thousands of people were the key to starting his business next year, or in other words, starting from a humanitarian perspective.
In terms of conscience, he would not allow these people to starve to death.
"Cuihua, what are the priests of this world like?".
Cuihua’s mechanical electric female voice sounded:
"As there are still 5 minutes left tomorrow, you have not signed in today."
Xu Kuang sighed, found the sign-in button, clicked it, and then asked:
"Can you tell me now?".
"Sign in successfully and obtain the item 'Five Years as a Priest and Three Years as Alchemy'."
Xu Kuang:......
Xu Kuang finally understood that Cuihua was just like the fortune tellers in previous lives. She could not tell him the answer directly, but could only tell him the answer through other hints and guidance.
Xu Kuang took this five-year priest's three-year alchemy book into his hands, and the book automatically turned into a stream of light and flew into his mind.
Xu Kuang seemed to have understood the book in an instant. He was extremely familiar with every word on every page!
Xu Kuang raised his head in shock, only to find that there was only a mottled stone wall in front of him.
Xu Kuang is no longer worried about making money, because the five years of priesthood and three years of alchemy have already pointed out several ways.
As soon as five minutes passed, Xu Kuang immediately signed in for the third day.
"Sign in successfully and obtain the item 'Golden Self-ringing Bell Drawing'".
Xu Kuang was happy, but then he frowned. He didn't believe it was a coincidence. He didn't believe he came to the pillow when he fell asleep. He already knew in his heart that there must be an invisible hand behind his back controlling everything, but he
I just dare to bury everything in the deepest part of my heart and pretend that nothing happened.
No matter who is behind it, he cannot afford to offend him now.
A night of silence.
The next day, Xu Kuang approached Ryan and asked for ten gold coins.
Ryan didn't ask about the use. He believed that his young master must have his own use.
"Master, everyone is here."
Xu Kuang quickly put the gold coins into the storage space, and then came in front of everyone.
"Is there anyone who can hunt?".
A few dozen people raised their hands, including Ryan.
"Well, Grandpa Ryan, you have taken this group of people to hunt everywhere in Mushroom Ridge. It doesn't matter if you go further. Anyway, our Mushroom Ridge is as big as four hundred miles (20x20). Without a target, how much can you do?"
How many.".
Ryan said:
"We don't need so many people, only twenty people are enough.".
Xu Kuang nodded. He didn't know much about these things, so he was ready to leave all such matters to Ryan.
"Okay, just twenty people."
Then Xu Kuang said to York again:
"Choose two hundred stronger men to cut down trees. Cut down fewer trees in our territory and cut more trees in other people's territories. This group of people became shameless when my father just passed away.
, they have robbed me of so much territory, and now if they cut down some trees, they will collect interest.”
York nodded and went to cut down the tree.
Then Xu Kuang asked a group of people to move stones. He drew two S-shaped lines from the highest point of Mushroom Ridge to the lowest point of Mushroom Ridge, and asked everyone to place the stones on both sides of the line.
A man couldn't help but ask:
"Lord, I don't mean anything else. I just want to ask, what do you want to do by cutting down trees and moving rocks?"
"It's very simple. There will be a river flowing from the top of the ridge at the beginning of next year. We will build a river channel and let the river flow according to our ideas."
Everyone's eyes widened when they heard this. They looked at me and me, as if they had seen a ghost. Some of them went too far, and they actually laughed out loud.
"Why are you laughing? Have you forgotten who fed the gluttons in your stomachs? Whatever the young master tells you to do, you will do it!".
When everyone heard this, they hurried to move the stones.
"Master, what should I do?" Jenny looked at Xu Kuang expectantly.
Xu Kuang smiled and said to Jenny:
"You really have a job to do. You and others will dig up the wild vegetables and mushrooms nearby that are not dry yet, and pack them away. We will prepare for the winter."
"Yes!" Jenny left happily.
Xu Kuang returned to his residence and began to study how to make a gilt self-ringing bell.
He first found an iron pot and tried to use his magic power to deform the iron pot.
The iron pot made a creaking sound under the influence of Xu Kuang's magic power, and then fell to the ground with a clang.
Xu Kuang, on the other hand, covered his head with pain on his face.
Xu Kuang understood that he had lost his strength, as it was said in the alchemy book of five years as a priest and three years as a priest.
Suddenly, Xu Kuang found that his experience value had increased, and he saw it written on his panel:
Host: [Xu Kuang]
Occupation: Alchemical Priest (Industrial Priest)
Level: Trainee 1 star
Experience value:1000/363
Strength:0.5
Intelligence:6
Constitution:0.5
Lucky:5
Physical value:53/41
Mana: 21/1
Money:-6300
21.3
Skill:Expand/Collapse
Equipment:Expand/Collapse
He remembered clearly that when he completed the mission before, he gained 350 experience points. He originally had 1 experience point, but now it has become 363!
That’s right! Alchemy is originally acquired through practice, how could it be possible to level up just by relying on mission experience!
Xu Kuang wanted to understand this and immediately became excited!
Xu Kuang thought of this and immediately started to continue practicing. By late at night, he had repeated it dozens of times and gained a full 122 experience points!
Xu Kuang felt that his head was getting heavier and heavier, and he fell asleep directly on the table.
When Xu Kuang woke up again, it was already noon the next day.
Xu Kuang stretched. He could feel that his physical strength was extremely abundant, which made him sigh in relief.
He looked at the parts on the table and felt a sense of accomplishment. At the same time, he also had a changed perspective on the alchemy of this world.
He picked up a ball of curled metal. This was the clockwork of the self-ringing clock. Logically speaking, the iron used in the iron pot contained too much carbon and the elasticity coefficient was not enough. However, by using alchemy to carve a small magic circle on it, it turned out to be possible.
Make it more resilient.
Xu Kuang understood what this meant, which meant that other modern industrial equipment might also be strengthened through the alchemy circle.
Xu Kuang could almost imagine what it was like. Imagine that in the past, the high-precision tool head that needed to be replaced after processing several workpieces had its lifespan increased dozens of times because of the application of several anti-wear arrays.
The picture was so beautiful that Xu Kuang couldn't even imagine it.
"Cuihua, sign in."
"Sign in successfully and get the item 'Elixir of Recovery' x10."
Xu Kuang picked up a magic pill and looked at it carefully. Suddenly, lines of subtitles appeared in front of him.
"Recovery Pill, a primary mana recovery pill, one pill can restore 50 mana. It can clear fatigue, trance and other negative states, and add concentration and energy."
Xu Kuang's eyes lit up. Now that he has this elixir, doesn't it mean that he no longer has to train himself to exhaustion like yesterday?
Xu Kuang laughed.
…
Three days later.
Xu Kuang carefully attached a magic circle to the gear to reduce wear, and then placed the gear on the table.
He took out the high-precision vernier caliper he got when he signed in, measured it carefully, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the error was within the specified range.
In front of him, there were thousands of parts neatly laid out. These parts were all needed for the gilt chime clock. Some of the parts he could not make and could only be purchased. For example, rubies, he had to buy them.
The purchase cost him almost all his gold coins, and Xu Kuang was now a veritable pauper.
…
Xu Kuang carefully plated the last bit of liquid gold onto the gilt chiming clock and waited for it to cool.
Half an hour later, Xu Kuang carefully wound up the chime clock. Not long after, a bird suddenly emerged from the chime clock, and the bird chirped loudly.
Xu Kuang called Ryan in front of him. He pointed at the gilded self-ringing bell and asked:
"How much do you think this thing can be sold for?".
Ryan looked at the chiming clock, and after a moment, he gave the answer:
"I don't think this thing can work without eighty gold coins."
Xu Kuang nodded. He still believed in Ryan's judgment on prices. He subconsciously said:
"Then I will order eighty gold coins."
"No, Master, you should order two hundred gold coins."
Xu Kuang looked at Ryan in surprise and asked:
"Why?".
Ryan said to Xu Kuang:
"First, it gives people room to bargain. Second, eighty gold coins is our lowest price. If we can sell it at a higher price, why not do it?"
Xu Kuang looked at Ryan intently. Now he finally understood why people often say that having an elder in a family is like having a treasure.
"Then who do you think we should sell to?".
After Ryan pondered for a moment, he gave his answer:
"Baron Wayne from Calabash Town is a good choice. The master had a close personal relationship with Baron Wayne during his lifetime. Even if the deal failed, he wouldn't say anything. And although Calabash Town is only a small town, there are tens of thousands of households.
, the population is close to one hundred thousand, Baron Wayne’s strength far exceeds that of other nearby lords, and he is definitely the best choice.”
Xu Kuang nodded and said to Ryan:
"I'll do what you want. You arrange things in the territory today and we'll leave tomorrow. If everything goes well, we'll be able to have enough food for next month."
Ryan nodded with a smile. He looked at Xu Kuang, full of relief.