Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Thud, thud, thud!

Sounds of axe chopping on the tree trunk resonated in the jungle.

The axes were swung vigorously and embedded deeply in the trunk, creating a burst of small wood chips. Then the axe handle was pulled out forcefully by the exploration team members.

Once the trunk was cut with a large enough gap, the whole tree began to teeter.

The logging team members yelled loudly to issue a reminder, then several people worked together to kick on the tree trunk.

The trees made a crunching sound before crashing to the ground, accompanied by the sound of countless tree branches being broken and leaves falling from the sky.

Although the exploration team only brought a few axes, it greatly improved the efficiency and reduced their energy consumption.

Next, the tree trunk was sawn into sections for easy transportation.

These tree trunks were rolled and transported to the campsite where they would be processed.

The exploration team did not have a saw.

However, Aupin lent one to them.

Aupin’s “saw” came from a blade spider. The hindlimbs of the spider were slender and straight, and had a row of spikes. This was nature’s perfect saw.

The blade spider was a Silver-rank monster, so the exploration team quickly utilized the power of the Silver-rank monster from another angle.

They worked in pairs, using the blades of the spider legs to saw through the thick tree trunks, as if they were using a sharp knife to cut bread.

Old scholar Palebeard had a wealth of experience in leadership and commanding others.

He divided the people into two groups.

One group cut the wood while the other group peeled the tree bark, tearing the inner side of the bark into strips.

Every once in a while, the two groups would take turns to switch sides. This way, the team members could save some energy, take some rest, and maintain the speed of the work.

Over the morning, the logging team fulfilled their task.

Tree logs were rolled to the camp site one after another and stacked in the corner.

There were also the torn-off bark strips from the tree, which were smeared with a potion.

The lunch ration was increased because almost everyone was extremely hungry.

Whitesprout and Yellowteres also came back for food.

They didn’t have a huge harvest, only catching a few birds and a pheasant. This gain was obviously insignificant compared to the manpower and time they had spent, but at least they patrolled and cleared the jungle near the campsite.

To everyone’s surprise, Aupin ordered that there would be a short nap after lunch. This had never happened before.

This was actually Palebeard’s suggestion. The lunch break could ensure the team’s work efficiency in the afternoon.

Although the logging work was over, the upcoming workload was still large.

A large number of tree trunks were chopped down to form wooden planks, which were used for the shortbow limbs.

Thus, the planks had to be a specific length and thickness.

The best kind of plank was the wood from the center of the tree trunk.

This was a joiner’s job.

It would be great if there was a carpenter, but the exploration team members were all laymen. Their incompetence was immediately manifested as many tree trunks were destroyed. Although many wooden planks were made, after Whitesprout’s inspection, they were not up to standard.

Substandard wooden planks could be used for hunting traps.

Even the most broken wood pieces could be used to burn fire. After burning, the charcoal and wood ash formed were also good materials and had high practical value.

The exploration team was in dire need of any resources. They were happy to obtain any resources they could get their hands on.

The woodworking progress was quite slow, and the anxiety and impatience in Aupin’s heart began to accumulate.

He knew that he shouldn’t be anxious.

To be honest, Violette’s potions did help him a lot as they saved them a ton of time.

Moreover, Palebeard’s plan was also reasonable and sufficient. This old scholar had already thought of the members’ poor woodworking skills.

After the members of the exploration team became familiar with the work, the loss of wood began to decrease greatly.

Usable planks were made one after another.

After the number of planks reached a certain level, Palebeard directed everyone to start using planks to make shortbow limbs.

The process was actually quite simple.

They only needed to cut the plank into thinner strips, to form a shape that was slightly thicker in the middle and slightly thinner at the ends. Then cut holes at both ends to facilitate the bowstrings.

The shortbow limbs would be smeared with potion after Whitesprout’s inspection, then placed in a dark corner to dry.

After this part of the work was over, many people claimed that they could become bowyers.

People were moving their fingers or using their arms, hands, thighs and other muscles. The pain and soreness made them clench their teeth.

Their bodies were close to their limits, but there were more jobs waiting for them.

They needed to make a lot of arrows.

There was generally a standard for the selection of arrow shafts. The quality processed wood was cut into a long cylinder, then the surface was smoothened.

Of course, the exploration team did not have such processing capabilities.

Their main arrow material was tree branches, which were chosen to be as straight as possible and close to the length and thickness of normal arrows.

Whitesprout instructed the people to make arrows, first by removing the skin of the branches and making the arrow shaft, then carefully cutting the feathers with a blade, and applying a potion to make arrow feathers. The last step was to bake the arrow slightly to make the wood harden, and finally sharpen it.

The arrows produced this way were far inferior to regular legion supplies.

First of all, the arrow shaft material was inadequate and the arrow feathers were not top-notch. They were totally poorly made, but still usable.

The exploration team had very few feathers, most of which came from the birds that Whitesprout hunted today, so they had to conservatively use them

The only upside was that Violette’s potions for the feathers were sticky as hell!

As for the arrow heads, these were a bit unfortunate.

There they did not even have a metal iron head.

The wooden arrow heads could only be used a few times.

Its lethality was also low, but was still threatening against ordinary beasts.

In addition to the production of arrows, there were other tasks.

For example, wide wooden shields taller than a person were assembled from tree trunks and rattans, then planted in the ground to form a simple and short wall.

Long ago, this kind of fortification existed when soldiers attacked castles.

By now, this kind of fortification had long been eliminated.

Even if someone used it, they would at least add a layer of iron on the surface.

In addition to shields, there were wooden spears.

The exploration team members could hold spears in both hands and assassinate flying squirrels within a certain safe distance.

But this tactic was only better than nothing. Everyone knew that the squirrels were fast and could glide in mid-air. Their tails could adjust its direction in the air and its body was flexible.

What everyone was looking forward to was mainly the shortbows.

By the evening, the torn slices of bark had completely dried out. People praised Violette’s potions as they began to make twine.

The technique of twisting the rope was also taught by Whitesprout.

There were subtle tricks here.

Firstly, one wooden strand was divided into two strands, and each strand was twisted counterclockwise. After the two strands were merged, they were twisted together clockwise. This way, the woven hemp rope would be tighter and would not easily fall apart.

Hemp rope was used as a bowstring. Each shortbow was equipped with at least two bowstrings, one for common use and one as a spare.

When it came to dinner time, they had made enough bowstring.

Just like noon, dinner was also luxurious. Among it was game meat, which was a refreshing change of diet for everyone.

Early morning the next day.

Aupin and others all got up early because there was an important task to do.

It was time to test the bows.

After leaving it overnight smeared in Violette’s potion, the bow had dried.

Whitesprout grabbed both ends of the bow limb with his hands and tried to bend it vigorously. After seeing the bow limb had bent to form a huge arc, he grinned and said, “It’s great. It’s better than I thought.”

Palebeard said, “Yellowteres, I’ll give you a task. Break this bow limb, but you must slowly apply force.”

Yellowteres knew what Palebeard meant and began trying. When the bow limb was bent to its limit, it immediately broke into two pieces.

Everyone saw with their own eyes and understood the limit of this simple bow limb.

Palebeard estimated, “It seems that we can only use one strand of hemp rope for the bowstring.”

No one had any objections.

Sometimes, multiple strands of hemp rope were combined to form a bowstring. But after the toughness and limit of this shortbow limb was tested, one hemp rope strand was more appropriate.

Whitesprout tied up the bowstring with a clever knot.

Then, the son of hunters pulled the arrow, aimed at the target, and shot the arrow with a swish sound.

Everyone opened their eyes wide and watched.

The arrow that had been traveling straight ahead flew to the upper left, then landed on the ground.

The distance was more than fifty meters.

It was nowhere near the target.

But no one looked disappointed. Even Aupin only nodded slightly; he knew this was just the beginning.

The bow needed to be adjusted.

The bow limb was roughly made and required daggers and other tools to continue shape the bow limb. Also, they had to adjust the bowstring and arrow. After this slow process, the shortbow would become more stable, and its range would greatly increase.

In the end, after Whitesprout’s adjustments, the arrow successfully hit the target a hundred steps away, digging two inches deep into the target.

Aupin was satisfied with this result.

On one hand, this was not a composite bow, it was a shortbow. The bow limbs and bowstring were all made locally, and weren’t carefully selected. On the other hand, the arrow did not have an iron head, it was sharpened after carbonization. The entire process was crude.

This result was already quite excellent, as Aupin did not have too many requirements.

They were in the middle of the jungle, not in a vast and empty grassland, where a longbow would be more suitable.

The exploration team members were not good archers. Most of them were laymen. He did not expect them to have any accuracy beyond a hundred steps.

Limited by the environment and personal skill, the effective range of the shortbow is one hundred steps, which is enough.

The main thing is to see how many arrows we can shoot over a hundred steps… If we can shoot more than three arrows with a certain accuracy, then the shortbow plan was successful.