Chapter 39: Section 40: Bow Making


    Editor: Henyee Translations


    Bang, bang, bang.


    The sound of axes chopping into the tree trunks echoed incessantly.


    Axes were wielded forcefully, embedding deeply into the tree trunks and sending chips of wood flying before being pulled out by the shaking of the handles by the exploration team members.


    The trunk of the tree had a large enough notch hacked into it that the entire tree began to teeter and sway.


    The logging team members shouted loudly, giving a warning, and then several people together pushed forcefully against the trunk.


    ...


    The tree made a creaking sound before crashing to the ground. Countless branches cracked and leaves scattered everywhere.


    Although the exploration team only had a few axes, their efficiency greatly increased, saving the team members’ physical strength.


    Next, they needed to saw the trunk into sections for easier transportation.


    These tree trunks were to be rolled to the camp for further fine processing.


    The exploration team hadn’t brought saws.


    However, Zhenjin lent them some.


    Zhenjin’s “saw” came from the Blade Spider, whose hind legs were long and straight with a row of sharp spikes, making them natural saws.


    The Blade Spider was a Silver Level Magic Beast, and the exploration team members quickly appreciated the strength of a Silver Level Magic Beast from another perspective.


    They worked in pairs, using the Blade Spider’s legs to saw through large tree trunks as easily as slicing white bread with a sharp knife.


    The old scholar Cang Xu had rich leadership and command experience.


    Because Zhenjin was overseeing things, he divided the team into two groups.


    One group cut the wood, while the other peeled off the bark and shredded the inner sides into fine strips.


    Every so often the two groups would switch tasks, allowing the team members to conserve their physical strength, rest, and maintain their work progress.


    By the end of the morning, the logging team had overfulfilled their task.


    A large amount of wood was rolled in sections to the camp and temporarily piled in a corner.


    The fine strips of bark were also coated with potions.


    Lunch was substantially increased, as nearly everyone was famished. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bai Ya and Huang Zao also returned for the meal.


    They didn’t have much of a harvest, with only a few birds and one wild chicken. This small gain was not comparable to the manpower and time spent, but they at least cleared the nearby forests once again.


    To everyone’s delight, Zhenjin announced that there would be a short nap after lunch, something unprecedented.


    This was actually Cang Xu’s suggestion, as the nap would ensure the team members’ work efficiency in the afternoon.


    Although the logging work was done, the upcoming tasks were still massive.


    A large amount of wood needed to be chopped into planks, preliminary forms for the short bow arms.


    Thus, the length and thickness of the planks had to meet specific requirements.


    Ideally, the planks should come from the core of the tree trunk.


    This was fine woodworking.


    It would have been better if there was a woodcrafter, but all the exploration team members were amateurs, which quickly became apparent—many trunks were ruined, and although many planks were chopped out, Bai Ya found them all unqualified.


    The unqualified planks could be used for Hunter Traps.


    Even the most broken wood could at least be used for fire. After burning, the resulting charcoal and ash were good resources with high practical value.


    The exploration team, at this point, needed every resource. They would not easily miss any resource they could obtain.


    The woodworking progressed slowly, increasing Zhenjin’s worry and impatience.


    Although he knew that his anxiety wouldn’t solve anything.


    To be honest, Zi Di’s potions had indeed helped him a lot, saving him the most critical time.


    Furthermore, Cang Xu’s arrangement was reasonable and thorough. The old scholar had long predicted the unqualified planks.


    As the exploration team members gradually got familiar with the work, the wood waste started to decrease significantly.


    Qualified planks began to emerge, and their numbers increased.


    Once the planks reached a certain quantity, Cang Xu directed everyone to start using the planks to craft the short bow arms.


    This process was quite simple.


    The planks were shaved into thinner long strips, forming a slightly thicker middle and thinner ends, with grooves at the ends for the bowstring.


    The finished short bow arms, after being checked and confirmed by Bai Ya, were coated with potions and placed in a dark corner to dry.


    After this task was complete, many people started clamoring that they felt they could become bowmakers.


    More people kept moving their fingers or kneading their arm and thigh muscles. The pain and soreness made them grimace.


    Their bodies were near their limits, but there was still other work awaiting them.


    They needed to make a large number of arrows.


    The selection of arrow shafts usually had a standard; the qualified wood was processed into slender cylindrical shapes, and then the surface was smoothed.


    The exploration team, of course, had no mature processing stages.


    Their primary material for arrow-making was branches, which needed to be as straight as possible and similar in length and thickness to standard arrows.


    Bai Ya guided everyone in making the arrows, first peeling off the bark to create the shafts, then carefully cutting the feathers with blades, attaching them with potions, and finally baking the arrowheads to harden them by carbonization and sharpening them.


    The arrows made this way were far from the quality of regular military supplies.


    Firstly, the material for the arrow shafts was subpar, the arrow feathers were not top-tier, entirely crude, but there was no room for complaints.


    The exploration team had very few feathers, mostly from today’s hunted chickens and birds, so every feather needed to be cherished.


    The only comforting aspect was the potion that Zi Di had quickly prepared—it stuck extremely well!


    As for the arrowheads, they were very crude.


    There weren’t even iron arrowheads.


    They would wear out quickly after a few uses.


    The lethality was naturally low, but they were still threatening to ordinary beasts.


    Beyond making arrows, there were other tasks.


    For example, wooden shields were as tall as a person and quite wide, made by assembling tree trunks and vines and standing up to form a rudimentary low barrier.


    These were also called arrow shields.


    Long ago, when the Human Race attacked castles, such defensive works existed.


    Nowadays, these had long been obsolete.


    Even if used, they would at least be covered with a layer of iron.


    Besides arrow shields, there were wooden long spears.


    The exploration team members could hold these with both hands to stab Flying Squirrels from a safe distance.


    However, this tactic was hardly effective because everyone knew the squirrels were fast, gliding in the air with their tails adjusting direction, making them incredibly agile.


    The real hope lay in the short bows.


    By evening, the stripped bark had thoroughly dried, and while marveling at Zi Di’s techniques, people began twisting flax ropes.


    The technique of twisting ropes was also learned from Bai Ya.


    There were small skills involved.


    Mainly, the fine strips were first divided into two bundles, each twisted counterclockwise, and when the two merged, they were twisted clockwise. This way, the woven rope would be tight and not easily untangled.


    The flax ropes served as bowstrings, with each short bow equipped with at least two bowstrings, one for regular use and one spare.


    By the time dinner came, the bowstrings were essentially ready in sufficient quantity.


    Like lunch, dinner was also hearty. There was even game, a rare treat for everyone.


    The next morning.


    Zhenjin and others woke up early because they had an important task—


    Testing the bows.


    After one night, coupled with Zi Di’s potion, the bows had dried.


    Bai Ya tried using both hands to bend the bow arms, and when he saw a considerable curve, he smiled and said, “Great. Better than I expected.”


    Cang Xu then pondered, “Huang Zao, I have a task for you. Break this bow arm, but do it slowly.”


    Huang Zao understood Cang Xu’s meaning and immediately set to work. When the bow arm bent to its limit, it snapped into two with a crack.


    The team witnessed this, instantly understanding the resilience limit of these simple bow arms.


    Cang Xu estimated, “It seems we can only use a single flax rope as the bowstring.”


    No one dissented.


    Sometimes, multiple flax ropes were combined to form a bowstring. But after testing, for the resilience and limit of these short bow arms, a single flax rope was more appropriate.


    Bai Ya attached the bowstring with a secure and clever knot.


    Then, the hunter’s son notched an arrow, aimed at a distant target, and released the arrow with a whoosh.


    Everyone watched intently.


    Clearly, the arrow that was meant to fly straight ahead veered to the upper left and then tilted down to the ground.


    It had a range of over fifty paces.


    It was far from the target—who knew where it had veered.


    But no one showed disappointment, and Zhenjin even nodded slightly—he knew this was just the beginning.


    Bows needed adjustment.


    The crafted bow arms were rough, requiring continued refinement with a dagger and other tools, and bowstrings and arrows needed adjustments too. Through this process, the accuracy and range of the short bows would stabilize and improve significantly.


    Finally, when Bai Ya finished his adjustments, the arrows successfully hit a target a hundred paces away, with the arrowhead penetrating two fingers’ depth.


    Zhenjin was quite satisfied with this outcome.


    On one hand, it wasn’t a compound bow, just a single-body bow, with bow arms and bowstrings made of locally sourced, unvetted materials. On the other hand, the arrows lacked iron arrowheads, only carbonized and sharpened, crudely handled.


    Such performance was already quite good.


    Because Zhenjin didn’t have high demands.


    They were now in a forest, not the wide-open grasslands where longbows were suitable.


    The team members were not excellent archers; most were forced into this, so expecting them to have any accuracy beyond a hundred paces was unrealistic.


    “Given the environmental and personnel constraints, having an effective short bow range of a hundred paces is sufficient.”


    “The key is how many arrows we can shoot within this hundred paces. If we can shoot more than three arrows with some accuracy, this short bow plan can be considered a success.”