Discovery of Pottery Clay

Chapter 20: Discovering Pottery Clay

Once confidence took root, action gained a more solid driving force and a longer-term perspective. Chen An was no longer content merely to cope with immediate survival crises; he began to shift his focus toward improving his quality of life, toward rebuilding a sustainable and more dignified way of living within this small Safe Zone. And what constrained him most at present was his crude set of tools.

The stone bowl was heavy and hard to clean, the broken pottery shards had limited uses, and storing food and water was extremely inconvenient. Every time he looked at that rough stone bowl and the fragments of the leaky clay pot, a faint discomfort born of his modern civilized habits would surface. He craved lighter, cleaner, more shapable containers.

This craving, like a seed, grew quietly in his heart, until an accidental discovery provided the chance for it to break through the soil.

It was an afternoon. Chen An decided to conduct a more thorough exploration of the buffer zone outside the Safe Zone, focusing on the area downstream of the creek marked as "medium-to-high risk" on his map but potentially rich in resources. He would never cross the ten-meter safety line, but using long poles to probe within the boundary was feasible.

He crafted a long hardwood pole with a forked tip, serving as an extended arm. Carefully, he moved to the east side of the yard gate, where the terrain was open and the safety line lay about fifteen meters away. He could see the clear creek sparkling in the sunlight, winding down from a distant valley, skirting the edge of his area, and rushing onward downstream.

His goal was to observe the geological composition of the riverbank downstream. The flow of water often carries and deposits different minerals.

He lay down inside the threshold of the yard gate and slowly extended the long pole toward the riverbank downstream. The tip scraped across pebbles and sand, brushing aside the surface layer. At first, all he saw were common cobblestones and coarse sand. But he didn't give up, probing patiently, inch by inch.

Suddenly, the pole tip met a resistance different from stone—more of a sticky drag. His heart stirred. He gently pushed aside the top layer of sand and gravel, revealing the deeper soil beneath.

It was a color completely different from the surrounding earth! A fine, uniform grayish-white, streaked with pale yellow veins. He thrust the tip in hard and felt a soft, highly plastic texture. When he pulled the pole back, clumps of moist, sticky mud clung to it.

Chen An's heart pounded. This feel... this color...

He cautiously retracted the pole, now coated with this grayish-white clay. He pinched off a small piece and examined it closely in his palm. The clay was very fine, almost free of grit. When wet, it was soft and slippery. He could easily roll it into a strip with his fingers, and it didn't break easily. He bent the strip, and it showed good flexibility, though fine cracks appeared on the surface.

A thought struck him like lightning—Pottery Clay! This was high-quality ceramic clay!

In his pre-transmigration world, he wasn't a professional, but he had visited pottery workshops and knew some basics. This fine, plastic clay rich in aluminosilicates was the ideal raw material for firing pottery!

A surge of joy flooded through him like a warm current. He suppressed his excitement and extended the pole again, sampling different spots. He found that this layer of clay beneath the riverbank was substantial in both thickness and extent—a considerable reserve!

Carefully, he scraped the clay off the pole tip with a stone flake, collected it, and brought it back into the yard. He needed to verify further.

The verification method was simple: plasticity and drying tests.

He fetched some well water, mixed it with the clay, and kneaded it repeatedly. The clay quickly became soft and elastic, like dough, easily shaped into any form—rolled into strips, pinched into bowls, pressed into flat sheets—whatever he wanted. Excellent plasticity!

Then, he shaped a small clay bowl and set it in a ventilated, shaded spot to dry naturally. A few hours later, the greenware hardened, its color shifting from grayish-white to pale yellow. The texture was firm, but when he pressed hard with his finger, it still crumbled. That was normal; raw clay needed the baptism of fire to vitrify.

A feasibility analysis raced through his mind:

* Raw material: High quality, easily accessible at the edge of the Safe Zone, relatively safe to obtain. * Process: The most primitive pottery-making wasn't complicated—shaping, drying, firing. He didn't need fine glazes or complex forms; just practical jars, bowls, and basins. * Tools: Shaping could be done by hand and with simple wooden paddles; firing required a controllable kiln, which would be the biggest challenge, but he could try building the most primitive pit kiln or updraft kiln. * Fuel: Firewood was abundant. * Knowledge: He had basic physics and chemistry knowledge, understanding that pottery was clay sintered at high temperatures (at least 600–800°C), undergoing chemical changes to become hard and durable.

The potential gains were enormous:

* Cookware: He could make lightweight clay pots and cauldrons to replace the heavy stone bowl, making it easier to cook food and boil water. * Storage: He could make clay jars and urns of various sizes for sealed storage of grain, seeds, and water, keeping out moisture and pests, greatly improving hygiene and resource management. * Tools: Clay spindle whorls, net sinkers, and more might be developed in the future. * A mark of civilization: The appearance of pottery was a key sign of settled life and civilizational progress.

Of course, challenges and risks existed too:

* Firing failure: Improper temperature control could cause cracking, deformation, or incomplete sintering. * Kiln construction: He needed to design a reasonable kiln structure to ensure even temperature and reach the required high heat. * Time and effort: This would be a time-consuming, labor-intensive process, likely involving many failures. * Accidental risks: The firing process required controlling the fire to avoid accidents.

Yet, compared to the huge improvements it could bring, these challenges were worth trying and overcoming!

Looking at the lump of clay in his hand, already kneaded smooth and fine, Chen An's eyes sparkled with excitement and the light of creation. This was no longer ordinary dirt—it was the embryo of civilization, the hope for a more comfortable and stable life ahead.

He could almost see a clay pot steaming on the stove, rows of clay jars filled with grain and water lining the walls, and himself drinking hot soup from a clay bowl...

A brand-new, more challenging project was officially added to his survival plan. Making pottery would be a key step from passively adapting to the primordial wilderness toward actively transforming his environment and improving his quality of life.

In the days that followed, he had a clear new goal: while ensuring basic survival tasks, he would begin exploring pottery-making—designing a kiln, practicing shaping, and preparing to face the trial of fire.

For the first time, the primordial world, sparked by a simple thought of his, was about to welcome a unique wisp of man-made smoke and fire.

(End of Chapter 20)