Chapter 64: The Demon Limb Excavated from the Riverbed

With these flints, he would be able to craft a large amount of black powder.

And with black powder, he could manufacture fragmentation grenades in bulk.

Of course, fragmentation grenades were not his primary objective; he intended to save these flints for making ammunition for the homeland cannon.

He could make a few fragmentation grenades, but not too many.

Liu Hen was unsure whether the flints on the ground actually weighed ten tons—perhaps more, perhaps less. Lacking proper tools, he could only estimate based on feel.

In the end, he gathered a little over two thousand small blocks of refined flint.

"A single small block of refined flint, combined with ten small logs, can produce a complete batch of black powder."

"And a complete batch of black powder, combined with ten small blocks of iron ore, can produce a crate of fragmentation grenades."

"A crate contains ten fragmentation grenades. If all these flints were used for grenades, they would be enough to manufacture over twenty thousand of them!"

Liu Hen felt a surge of excitement, suddenly realizing that gathering materials by himself was far too slow, and required constantly searching around.

The current method of trading was much faster.

Although it required paying a certain cost, this was normal trade, and he could easily afford the purchasing price.

As long as the other party profited while he never lost out, it was all good.

This was a win-win situation.

After finishing the collection of the flints outside, Liu Hen brought Chang Xin back into the camp.

Locking the door, he took out seven bowls of tree-paste gruel and said to Chang Xin, "Distribute this food. Make sure everyone eats their fill this meal, then arrange for shifts to patrol. Call me if anything comes up."

"Oh, and arrange the living quarters as well. You don't need to stay right next to my room; I'll be expanding later and building a separate room for each of you."

With that, he hurried back inside the homeland building. After claiming the two warm garments he had already manufactured, he set to work crafting black powder.

After all, even if Tong Kun and the others hurried over without stopping next time, it would still take at least two shallow nights.

There was no need to rush to craft all the warm garments right now.

The material for black powder was one piece of flint and ten logs.

He directly loaded two sets of materials and patiently waited.

Soon, the first batch of black powder was finished, and he immediately selected the fragmentation grenade recipe.

Another minute later, a crate of fragmentation grenades was successfully crafted.

A crate of fragmentation grenades contained a total of ten items. They were pitch-black and possessed a heavy metallic texture.

Liu Hen picked up two of them to play with, and a deep sense of security surged within him.

Although the thermobaric bomb had massively increased his combat capability, it was still not enough because releasing it put a strain on his body, and using it too violently could even cause self-injury.

On the other hand, fragmentation grenades, which he could treat as time-bombs, had no such concerns. Not only could he use them himself, but he could also hand them over to his subordinates to share the burden.

For the rest of the time, he continued crafting fragmentation grenades, intending to stockpile a larger quantity.

A crate only took up one space in his inventory backpack, and having too few of them looked rather irritating.

After spending nearly two hours, he consumed a hundred pieces of flint and produced a total of one hundred crates of fragmentation grenades.

"A total of one thousand fragmentation grenades should be enough for the time being."

Next, Liu Hen spent a little time crafting two hundred portions of black powder to keep in reserve.

Although he could not build the homeland cannon just yet, preparing the semi-finished materials beforehand would allow him to produce the final product much faster when the time came.

Having finished making the black powder, it was deep in the night outside, so he simply threw himself down and went straight to sleep.

When he woke up, it was already shallow night outside.

Feeling his slightly stiff body, Liu Hen frowned inwardly, deciding that he could not just wait around; he needed to find a way to get some copper ore to upgrade his All-Things Pickaxe first.

He had to heal his bodily injuries in advance, just in case he ran into any unexpected dangers.

"The Copper Dragon Camp is two hundred kilometers away. It should be built on top of a copper vein. According to scientific principles, a small amount of copper ore should be distributed around the periphery of the vein."

The piece of copper ore that Little Black Stone had sensed earlier was proof of this.

Thinking about this, Liu Hen immediately communicated with Little Black Stone in his mind: "I'm going to look for copper ore. Keep your senses sharp later and let me know promptly if you encounter any."

"Understood, Master," Little Black Stone replied.

"By the way, come to think of it, you haven't eaten in a long time. Do you not need to eat anymore?" Liu Hen asked.

"It's not that I don't need to at all, but I am currently fusing with the Wish Stone, which is equivalent to eating it," Little Black Stone replied. "After the fusion is complete, I will probably still need to eat."

"I see."

Liu Hen got up, placed all the large logs into the bonfire's fuel chamber, and took out all the tree bark, piling it in a corner to free up some space before heading out.

On the defensive wall, Zong Ni, Chen Ye, and Wu Yuanming were patrolling back and forth.

Meanwhile, Wu Yuanguang, Wu Yuanxia, and Wu Yuanbai were resting in a room in the corner; clearly, shift rotations had been organized.

In the room in the opposite corner, a faint glow could be seen emanating from Chang Xin, as if she were cultivating.

Sensing Liu Hen's gaze, Chang Xin opened her eyes and looked over.

"I'm going out to look for materials. You all stay safe."

Liu Hen picked up a bonfire from the ground to prevent any unexpected monster tides, and walked toward one of the gates.

Chang Xin chased after him and said, "Take Zong Ni with you. Having someone keep watch is always good."

"No need. Her eyesight is too poor; she can't see very far. Besides, I won't be going far, just checking the vicinity."

Liu Hen pushed the door open, glanced at the distant darkness, and strode out directly.

Behind him, Chang Xin frowned secretly: "I always have the feeling that he doesn't need us at all. That won't do!"

She closed the door, returned to the room, and silently absorbed the magic crystals she had stored, eager to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

"Soon, my ability will enter the next stage. By then, I should be able to enfeoff more soldiers, and perhaps some other changes will occur."

Fueled by fierce determination, she did not want to be left too far behind by Liu Hen.

...

"Black Stone, have you sensed any copper ore?" Liu Hen asked.

He had already walked more than two hundred meters away. This area had also been bombed previously, though there were very few craters on the ground.

"No," Little Black Stone's voice echoed in his mind.

Liu Hen had no choice but to keep moving forward.

After advancing another hundred meters or so, he suddenly spotted a river over twenty meters wide.

However, that river had long since frozen solid, without a single sound of flowing water.

"This must be the frozen riverbed Chang Xin mentioned earlier."

He reached the edge of the riverbed and directly swung his All-Things Pickaxe to mine the ice.

[Large Ice Block +1]

A one-meter-square pit appeared before his eyes.

"Are there still fish underneath?"

He tried digging further down, anyway his mining speed was fast.

[Large Ice Block +1]

[Large Ice Block +1]

The ice layer in front of him was continuously harvested, but no matter how deep he dug, he didn't see any flowing water; everything was frozen completely solid.

"Master, there seems to be a demonic aura underneath." Suddenly, Little Black Stone's voice rang in his mind.

At the same time, the ground beneath his feet trembled slightly, and a tree root shot out like a spear.

Almost instinctively, Liu Hen swung his pickaxe down fiercely.

With a "bang," the tree root shattered directly and was harvested.

[Tree Core +1]

Liu Hen: "……?"

After a moment of astonishment, realizing what had happened, he hurriedly scrambled back up to the bank, on high alert.

To his surprise, however, the monster did not pursue him, and there was no further movement at all.

"Master, that doesn't seem to be a complete monster, just a limb of one."

Little Black Stone's voice sounded in his mind again: "This aura is a bit like the root monster we encountered before."

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(End of this chapter)