Chapter 107: Logistics

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Zhang He hurried home to deliver the gold, bidding farewell to Duan and Yun: "It's late today; how about I take you two ladies to buy the ore tomorrow?"

"Alright!"

The three agreed to go together the next day to purchase the ore.

With Zhang He's assistance, they secured a very favorable price for the ore. Yun Qing spent five taels of gold on a substantial amount of iron ore and dark iron ore, along with a small quantity of refined dark iron stones. Duan Mengrou had spent all ten taels of gold she obtained yesterday and then some, while Zhang He did not purchase any ore.

On the third day, the group gathered at the caravan's gate, ready to depart.

Unlike Yun Qing’s previous experience of going in pairs to the village to collect items, this time the caravan consisted of about thirty people, with more than ten lion-horse beasts pulling seven heavily armored iron vehicles.

The five were assigned three different tasks.

Fang Rui and Wei Yi were assigned to the escort team as trainee guards, learning the duties of caravan protection.

Duan Mengrou and Zhang He joined the merchant team as trainee merchants, learning resource management and pricing.

Yun Qing, who refused to work in logistics at the station, followed the caravan on the road. Being the weakest, she was ultimately assigned to logistics—specifically, the mobile kitchen vehicle.

This vehicle was responsible for feeding the entire team and the lion-horse beasts. Yun Qing thus fulfilled a goal she hadn’t achieved in Ye Family Village: to become a chef, albeit a trainee one.

Why the caravan used vehicles was known to Yun Qing for two reasons.

First, even the caravan leader only possessed late Qi-level cultivation; their storage pouches were small, mainly for precious items traded with spirit stones. However, the caravan’s trade included not only valuable goods but also large quantities purchased with silver coins. Some areas could not support all their goods with spirit stones and silver, so goods themselves were often used for barter.

Second, during nighttime rest in the wild, these armored vehicles could form a defensive formation to protect the caravan personnel. On the road, when encountering bandits, beasts, soul corpse beasts, or demons, the vehicles provided a degree of protection.

The kitchen vehicle where Yun Qing worked was crucial as it carried food and water for over thirty people and more than ten lion-horse beasts. Of course, it did not carry the full rations for the entire journey, only a portion, with supplies replenished en route and at the next city.

Each vehicle had a captain, numbered from one to seven according to the caravan order. Yun Qing’s kitchen vehicle was number seven, with three people aboard: Old Li and Xiao Jingzi. Old Li was the captain of vehicle seven.

He was level 39, with white hair and beard but still bright-eyed. He was mainly responsible for procurement and managing logistics.

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Xiao Jingzi was about Yun Qing’s age and had been with the caravan since childhood. His elder brother served as a guard on vehicle one. Xiao Jingzi was cheerful and good-natured, at level 31 just entering the postnatal stage, working as both cook and general helper.

Both greeted Yun Qing’s arrival warmly.

Thanks to Xiao Jingzi’s introduction, Yun Qing learned of her duties. About two hours before mealtime during travel, they began preparing ingredients, working hard for two hours to have meals ready for everyone.

Compared to human meals, the lion-horse beasts’ food was simpler—just boiled in a large pot as long as it was cooked. If the grazing area at their night stop was lush, the beasts’ meals could be reduced.

Whenever resting, the leader sought out water sources. After confirming with a few others that the water was safe, Yun Qing and Xiao Jingzi would collect as much as possible, boiling and purifying it with a cleansing array to provide pure, toxin-free water for the caravan.

Yun Qing asked about the caravan’s destination, but Xiao Jingzi whispered that such matters were best not asked about. Only the leader and several vehicle captains knew their destination, a secrecy measure to prevent information leaks and avoid bandits.

Her work took about five hours daily, not tiring or dangerous.

Yun Qing had few objections. Cooking and boiling water on a moving vehicle was not as simple as on land. The vehicle used small arrays powered by heat, requiring no spirit stones.

After a day, she mastered the use of various small arrays on the vehicle for cooking, boiling water, and cleaning.

Preparing food with these arrays granted her crafting experience—not much per meal, but over a day, several thousand points, enough to level up crafting every two days easily.

Besides crafting experience, she also gained gathering experience.

During rest, when everyone was free, Yun Qing gathered some polluted herbs and weeds nearby.

Seeing Yun Qing assigned to logistics where she could hardly learn anything and unable to distinguish herbs and weeds after getting off the vehicle, Zhang He taught her how to identify herbs. This allowed Yun Qing to recognize more herbs, many of which were not found in Ye Family Village.

When not busy, she could practice the Qi Manipulation Technique and Body Tempering Art. The downside was that she couldn’t enter the cave abode to restore energy. Occasionally, she would sneak into the cave during “going out” time to maintain the machinery and farmland.

After nearly ten days of travel, Yun Qing had learned to use arrays and identified and gathered many herbs unknown in Ye Family Village.

Even the soul-repelling tree in her farmland had sprouted, though the caravan had yet to reach the first city.

In these days with the caravan, Yun Qing gained favor with many, but none reached genuine friendship.

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Fang Rui and Wei Yi bore no affection for her, though no hostility either; she still did not know their full names.

Under her daily attentive care, the soul-repelling tree grew into a large tree and bloomed. Following the system’s prompt, Yun Qing performed manual pollination.

It seemed the soul-repelling tree would soon bear fruit, enabling her to craft soul-repelling spheres—an extra safeguard.

Duan Mengrou regretted buying so much ore at the dark iron mine because she almost had no space left for the herbs she gathered during rest.

Yun Qing had no such problem but fretted over the silver cost of using purification skills—not something she could afford to use freely every day.

It had been ten days, and her crafting experience was only level 38, gathering experience at 36, while combat level remained at 33.

She gained only small amounts of experience daily from body tempering and suspected crafting might soon reach a level beyond which she could no longer gain experience.

With limited silver, Yun Qing planned to pick up skills she hadn’t mastered back in Ye Family Village. She experimented with slowly infusing her internal energy into the food while cooking.

It was easier than expected. With internal energy, cooking could enhance the food’s properties, but only with premium ingredients.

By this point, she could finally be considered a qualified “chef.”

Lacking the silver to freely use purification skills, she became a diligent practitioner, cultivating the Qi Manipulation Technique and purifying ingredients with internal energy.

Fortunately, hard work paid off. Achieving certain quantities and qualities of food granted her achievement points and skill points.