Fantasy Family Simulator (FFS)

On the western side of Sun Lake, the Thorn Forest differed somewhat from the smaller Thorn Forest located east of the East Eagle Logging Camp. This forest was dominated by thorny trees, but it also contained a wide variety of wild trees, flowers, and grasses. The proportion of thorny trees to other plants was roughly fifty-fifty.

The three of them wandered through the Thorn Forest for about an hour. Florano touched the hard bark of a tree, a slight smile on his face. "Lord Rhett, this forest is spacious, and the variety of plants is complex. The abundance of thorny trees makes it an excellent place for rangers to conduct practical training."

Laurene turned her gaze toward a twisted, menacing thorn and nodded in agreement. "This Thorn Forest is much more complicated than most of the forests we've encountered in the past." She touched a thorn, feeling its rough and hard texture, her expression serious. "The pervasive thorns will greatly increase the difficulty for rangers to move nimbly through the forest. For novice trainees, this place will be a real challenge. However, rangers who emerge from this thorny environment will be much stronger. Though the training process might be painful and bloody, the rewards will surely be sweet."

"You're right," Rhett nodded, his resolve to use this area as a ranger training ground growing stronger as he surveyed the surrounding dense forest.

"Unfortunately, we have too few knight trainees under our command, so we can only select a few rangers. Such a large forest seems a bit wasted," Florano said regretfully, shaking his head.

Rhett glanced at Florano and patted him on the shoulder. "Our territory's population will surely grow."

"Yes, Lord Rhett has been promoted to Viscount, which should attract more people to join us," Florano agreed. "As long as the population increases, talented knights will no longer be scarce."

Rhett smiled but remained silent, thinking to himself that not only would his new title attract people, but the impact of eradicating the evil alchemy organization would also draw grateful refugees to his lands.

Before heading back, Florano and Laurene helped Rhett gather many colorful mushrooms, assuring him that they were non-toxic and delicious. The mushrooms from the Thorn Forest were different from those on Blue Star, but they still looked like mushrooms and were easy to recognize.

Back at the castle, Rhett went to the kitchen and handed the mushrooms to Chef Maru. She smiled warmly as she took the bag from him. "So many fresh mushrooms! Lord Rhett, would you like mushroom soup for lunch?"

"That's right. But I have a suggestion. I hope you can add some chicken to the mushroom soup and let it simmer slowly..." Rhett thought for a moment and instructed her.

"Adding chicken? That's an interesting idea." Chef Maru looked surprised and thoughtful, as if imagining what the combination of mushrooms and chicken would taste like. After a moment, she replied, "That sounds wonderful, Lord Rhett. I'll give it my best shot!"

"Thank you!"

Rhett then went up to the fourth floor of the castle, to the alchemy lab that was set up in the previously unused room between Ryley's and Nina's quarters. Ryley, dressed in a blue shirt with his hair tied up, was holding tweezers and extracting leaves from a murky beaker. To his left was a small golden furnace with a fire magic crystal embedded in a recess at the base. As Ryley manipulated his mental power, activating the alchemical array, a flame rose from the furnace. On top of the furnace sat a wide-bellied, narrow-necked metal container bubbling with a white liquid that looked like milk.

Standing at the door, Rhett caught a faint scent and asked softly, "Ryley, what are you making? It smells like milk, but there's something different about it..."

"Ah, Father, you've arrived. Please, have a seat!" Ryley snapped back to attention and pulled a chair from the depths of the room, explaining as he moved, "I'm just making some small items. Since it's my first time, I'm simply extracting the juice from wind chime grass—a low-grade wind-type magic plant—and mixing it with milk."

After saying this, Ryley walked to the workbench and poured the greenish, murky liquid from the beaker into the alchemical container. The milk inside immediately took on a greenish hue. Ryley then conjured a stream of water to clean the beaker.

Rhett, intrigued, said, "Not bad. It smells good. Is this for Breg?"

"Yes, Father!"

Rhett nodded, encouraging him, "I hope to see you become an apprentice alchemist soon!"

"Well, that might take some time," Ryley said with a wry smile.

Seeing his father's surprised look, he explained, "I thought becoming an apprentice alchemist would be simple, but I was wrong. Memorizing the theory isn't difficult, but the actual practice requires precise control of mental power and a lot of experience. When making a potion, whether it's controlling the fire, extracting the essence, or timing the addition of liquids, there are countless details to manage. Missing any of them leads to failure."

"Oh? Didn't the alchemy books I brought back include other alchemists' insights?" Rhett asked.

"There are some insights, but just reading the text has limited effectiveness," Ryley replied, frowning slightly. "For example, when I was extracting the essence from the wind chime grass, the book mentioned that the heat should go from low to high and then back to low. But it didn't specify the exact timing for each heat level. It also didn't explain whether the temperature should increase slowly, quickly, or at a constant rate. These details were missing, which led to the final result being far from ideal. I only extracted about a third of the expected amount."

Rhett fell into thought, realizing that alchemy was somewhat similar to the art of potion-making on Blue Star. Given the historical connections between the two, it made sense that they would share similarities. He could only offer comfort, saying, "If the details aren't mentioned in the books, you'll have to keep experimenting and find more efficient methods through trial and error."

"For now, that seems to be the only option..." Ryley sighed.

Rhett thought to himself, "Once that Level 2 alchemist joins us and provides hands-on guidance, things should improve..."

...

For the next two days, Rhett continued to inspect various parts of the territory. On July 13th, he arrived at the central square. Scanning the area, he noticed a few new changes compared to half a month ago. The Nightingale Tavern had opened, but with the townspeople busy with farm work during the day, the tavern had few customers, despite the welcoming sign hanging at the entrance.

Rhett then made his way to the Iron Brothers' blacksmith shop. As soon as he reached the entrance, a wave of heat hit him. Holding his breath, Rhett saw Trew gently tapping the edge of a blade with a small hammer on the anvil. Willow was operating the bellows, while Briso stood beside Andre, watching as Andre rhythmically hammered a glowing piece of iron.

Andre and Leonid were both deeply focused on their hammering, unable to stop. If they did, the red-hot iron would cool before it could be shaped, requiring reheating. Not wanting to disturb them, Rhett quietly observed from the side.

Finally, after a cleaver was placed into water, emitting a sizzling sound, Andre wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel Briso handed him and hurried over. "Lord Rhett, I apologize for making you wait."

"No problem," Rhett replied thoughtfully. "I'm here today because I discovered a vein in our territory. I need you and Leonid to join me in assessing the situation."

"A vein, my lord?" Andre's voice was filled with joy, catching the attention of the others. Leonid, in particular, froze mid-swing, then hurriedly quenched his unfinished piece of iron and rushed over, sweating all over. "My lord, did you really find a vein? What kind is it?"

"A Fire Pattern Mine."

"A Fire Pattern Mine!" Andre's eyes lit up with excitement. "That's excellent fuel. With it, we wouldn't need to constantly replace the wood in the furnace, and the fire's stability would improve!"

"Please take us there, Lord Rhett!" Leonid could hardly wait. "I can't wait for the day we can use Fire Pattern Ore as our fuel."

Rhett chuckled and led the two men to a location about twenty kilometers south of fledgling Eagle Town. In a southern ravine, the three of them saw a deep pit. The surrounding earth had been moved there by Rhett using his earth magic.

"Lord Rhett, is the Fire Pattern Mine down there? How deep is it?"

"Forty meters," Rhett replied calmly.

"What? Forty meters?" Andre and Leonid exclaimed in unison, their shock evident.

"At forty meters, we'll need to build a passage down and install tracks and mine carts..." Andre muttered, still thinking in terms of traditional mining methods.

"No need for all that," Rhett shook his head.

What happened next left Andre and Leonid in awe. Rhett, standing on the reddish-brown earth with his staff in hand, concentrated his mental power, and the ground began to tremble slightly. Then, large amounts of soil started to rise and float to other locations.

Rhett could currently control an area of about one hundred square meters at a time, making the scene before Andre and Leonid quite spectacular.

"Earth mages are truly powerful!" Andre and Leonid exchanged glances, both marveling at the sight.

They quickly retreated fifty meters, not wanting to interfere with Rhett's spellcasting.

Time passed, and after three hours, the ground to Rhett's right had accumulated into a five-hundred-square-meter mound, with its highest point reaching over twenty meters.

"Ah..." Rhett exhaled, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Even as a Level 3 mage, the task had been taxing. He had already meditated several times to restore his depleted mental power and now needed to rest again.

But before meditating, he beckoned to the two men who had retreated a distance away and called out, "You can come over now. The Fire Pattern Mine is exposed."

Andre and Leonid, who had been watching the entire time, felt a renewed surge of energy as they ran over. However, standing at the edge of the forty-meter-deep pit, they couldn't help but widen their eyes in shock.

"A mine this deep was turned into an open-pit mine by the lord... Incredible!" Andre said with genuine admiration.

"There's a slope on the eastern side. You can go down from there and assess the ore reserves," Rhett instructed, closing his eyes to rest.

"No problem, Lord Rhett!" the two men responded in unison.

Half an hour later, after Rhett had meditated and recovered, he began adjusting the vertical walls around the mine. After all, a forty-meter-deep pit would make it too difficult for future miners to transport the Fire Pattern Ore. He needed to transform the vertical walls into a gentler slope.

Before long, Leonid and Andre returned, each carrying a roughly one-meter-diameter, irregularly shaped piece of ore. Their faces were filled with joy as they reported to Rhett, "Lord Rhett, after a brief inspection, we estimate that this is a small mine, with reserves of about 20,000 to 50,000 tons. It's not very rich, but it will more than meet the needs of our town."

"20,000 to 50,000 tons... That's about 2,000 to 5,000 kilograms," Rhett calculated mentally. He knew they wouldn't be able to use that much ore. By the beginning of next year, he could sell most of the mined ore to the front lines. Not only would it bring in a substantial profit, but it would also help supply the military—a win-win situation!

He reached out and touched the ore Andre was holding, feeling its warmth.

...