Once confidence took root, his actions gained firmer momentum and a longer-term vision. Chen An was no longer satisfied with merely dealing with the survival crisis before him. He began focusing on how to improve his quality of life and rebuild a sustainable, more dignified way of living within this small Safe Zone. For now, the greatest limitation was his crude equipment.
The stone bowl was heavy and difficult to clean, while the broken pottery shards had limited uses. Storing food and water was extremely inconvenient. Whenever he saw that rough stone bowl and the fragments of the leaky clay jar, discomfort born from the habits of modern civilization would faintly surface within him. He longed for containers that were lighter, cleaner, and easier to shape.
That longing was like a seed, quietly growing in his heart until an accidental discovery gave it the chance to break through the soil.
One afternoon, Chen An decided to conduct a more thorough survey of the buffer zone outside the Safe Zone. His focus was the downstream area of a small stream marked on his map as "medium-high risk" but potentially rich in resources. He would never cross the ten-meter safety boundary, but probing from within the boundary with a long pole was feasible.
He made a long, sturdy wooden pole with a forked tip to serve as an extended arm. Carefully, he walked to the east side of the courtyard gate. This was open ground with relatively good visibility, and the safety boundary lay roughly fifteen meters away. He could see the clear stream glittering under the sunlight as it wound down from a distant valley, passed along the edge of his area, and rushed farther downstream.
His goal was to observe the geological composition of the downstream riverbank. Flowing water often carried and deposited various minerals.
He lay inside the threshold of the courtyard gate and slowly extended the long wooden pole toward the riverbank downstream. The tip scraped across the pebbles and sand, dislodging the surface covering. At first, all he saw were common rounded stones and coarse sand. But he did not give up, patiently probing bit by bit.
Suddenly, the pole tip met resistance unlike that of stone, more like a viscous obstruction. His heart stirred. He gently pushed aside the surface sand and gravel, revealing the deeper soil beneath.
It was mud whose color was completely different from its surroundings! It was a delicate, even grayish-white, interspersed with a few pale-yellow streaks. He forcefully jabbed the pole tip into it and felt a soft, highly malleable texture. When he pulled the tip out, it brought up several sticky, damp clumps of mud.
Chen An's heart gave a sudden thump. This texture... this color...
He cautiously drew back the pole, its tip covered in the grayish-white mud. He pinched off a small piece and carefully examined it in his palm. The mud was extremely fine, with almost no gritty feel. When wet, it was soft and smooth, and he could easily roll it into a strip with his fingers without it breaking. He bent the strip, and it displayed good toughness, though tiny cracks appeared on the surface.
A thought like a bolt of lightning struck his mind—pottery clay! This was high-quality clay for making pottery!
In the world before he crossed over, he was not a professional, but he had visited ceramic workshops and learned some basic knowledge. This fine, highly malleable clay, rich in aluminosilicates, was precisely the ideal raw material for firing pottery!
A tremendous delight surged through his entire body like a warm current. Suppressing his excitement, he extended the long pole again and took samples from different spots. He discovered that a fairly thick and extensive layer of this clay lay beneath this stretch of riverbank. The reserves were substantial!
He carefully scraped the mud from the pole tip with a stone shard, gathered it, and carried it back into the courtyard. He needed to verify it further.
The method of verification was simple: a malleability test and a drying test.
He fetched some well water, added it to the clay he had brought back, and kneaded it repeatedly. The clay quickly became soft and elastic, like dough, and could easily be shaped into all kinds of forms—rolled into strips, pinched into bowls, or pressed into sheets, all at will. Its malleability was excellent!
Then he placed a small bowl-shaped clay blank he had molded in a cool, ventilated spot to dry naturally. Several hours later, the blank had hardened. Its color had changed from grayish-white to pale yellow, and its texture was hard, but it still crumbled when squeezed firmly with his fingers. That was normal. The unfired blank needed to undergo the baptism of flame before it could vitrify.
A feasibility analysis raced through his mind:
* Raw materials: High-quality and easy to obtain, located right at the edge of the Safe Zone and relatively safe to collect.
* Process: The most primitive pottery-making process was not complicated—shaping, drying, and firing. He did not need exquisite glazes or complex forms, only practical jars, bowls, and basins.
* Tools: Shaping could be done with his hands and simple wooden pieces. Firing required a controllable kiln, which would be the greatest challenge, but he could try building the most primitive vertical pit kiln or pit kiln.
* Fuel: Firewood was plentiful.
* Knowledge: He possessed the most basic knowledge of physics and chemistry. He knew that pottery was formed when clay was sintered at high temperatures—at least 600–800 degrees Celsius—and underwent chemical changes that hardened it and made it durable.
The potential benefits were enormous:
* Cooking utensils: 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 of various sizes, including clay urns, to seal and store grain, seeds, and water, preventing dampness and insects while greatly improving hygiene and resource management.
* Tools: Clay spindle whorls, clay net weights, and other items might also be developed in the future.
* Symbol of civilization: The emergence of pottery was an important sign of settled life and civilizational progress.
Of course, challenges and risks existed as well:
* Firing failure: Improper temperature control could cause the pottery blanks to crack, deform, or fail to sinter sufficiently.
* Kiln construction: He needed to design a reasonable kiln structure to ensure an even temperature and reach the required heat.
* Time and effort: This would be a time-consuming and labor-intensive process that might involve repeated failures.
* Accidental risks: He needed to control the fire during firing and avoid accidents.
However, compared with the tremendous improvements they might bring, these challenges were worth attempting and overcoming!
Looking at the lump of clay he had kneaded until it was smooth and fine, excitement and the light of creation shimmered in Chen An's eyes. This was no longer ordinary mud. It was the embryo of civilization, the hope of a more comfortable and stable future.
He could almost see a clay pot steaming atop the stove, clay urns lining the corner and filled with grain and clean water, and himself drinking hot soup from a clay bowl...
A brand-new, more challenging project was officially added to his survival plans. Making pottery would be a crucial step in his progress from passively adapting to the Primordial Wilderness to actively reshaping his environment and improving his quality of life.
In the days that followed, he had a clear new goal: while ensuring that his basic survival work continued, he would begin exploring pottery-making—designing a kiln, practicing shaping, and preparing to face the test of flame.
For the first time, the world of the Primordial Wilderness was about to welcome, because of one simple thought of his, a wisp of uniquely human smoke and fire born from creation.
(End of Chapter Twenty)
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