Dungeon on the Tip of the Tongue

Bone china is a special type of ceramic fired using animal ashes.

Compared to ordinary ceramic crafts, bone china manufacturing is slightly more intricate.

However, the advantage of this porcelain is that even without high-quality raw materials, you can still fire high-quality utensils.

This dungeon naturally lacks ready-made, superior clay for Karl to fire into ceramics, so he had to set his sights on alternatives.

Karl grilled the various lizard bones one by one on a stone slab, sprinkling them with some saltwater for seasoning.

The meat clinging to the bones was tender and chewy, as some of the collagen from the bones had leached out during the grilling process, replacing the moisture lost from the meat.

The stone slab, heated to around 160 degrees Celsius, allowed the Maillard reaction to occur on the surface of the meat and bones, a special protein maturation process that maximized the food's inherent aroma.

Even with only saltwater for seasoning, the fragrance was irresistible.

"Crack!"

Every time Karl finished grilling a meat bone, he would take a cleaned hand axe and split the meat bone horizontally in the middle.

The marrow inside the bone was then exposed to the air.

This rich, fatty food emitted an alluring aroma as soon as it was revealed.

The idiom "tasting the marrow and knowing the flavor" indirectly indicates the special status of bone marrow in the minds of ancient people.

It cleverly describes how those who have tasted the marrow perceive this food – one taste and you'll know its deliciousness.

Karl handed half of a split bone to Hopp, holding the other half himself, grilling the next one while gnawing on it.

From time to time, he would bring his mouth close to the broken end of the bone and suck a few times into the hollow interior.

Generally, women during their menstrual period are not suited to consume such fatty foods.

However, as a Tiefling barbarian, Hopp's physique surpassed Karl's; she had a sufficient physical foundation to rapidly absorb those nutrients to replenish herself.

After eating about ten meat bones, Hopp felt her body was no longer so weak.

But before she could help Karl, he had already used rainwater to slightly cool down the stone slab.

"Put it under your backside, it should alleviate your condition."

The stone slab had by now consumed all its spiritual energy, and the residual temperature had dropped to around seventy to eighty degrees Celsius after being doused with rainwater.

"Huh? You want me to reduce the sauce on high heat?"

Looking at the stone slab Karl handed over with Mage Hand, Hopp instinctively felt a bit resistant.

"Don't be so fussy, this is a special healing method from my hometown. Listen to me!"

In his past life, many girls suffering from menstrual cramps would sit on stone benches that had been baked by the sun for a whole afternoon to relieve their pain.

Karl didn't know the principle behind this, but everyone who had tried it online said it was personally tested and effective.

Seeing the usually energetic Hopp now lying weakly on the lounge chair, Karl decided to use this folk remedy to treat her.

Looking at Karl with suspicious eyes, Hopp, half-believing, moved aside, letting the stone slab land on the lounge chair's seat.

Then, with a somewhat grim expression, she sat down on the stone slab.

The still-hot stone slab made Hopp flinch, but the Tiefling's innate fire resistance allowed her to quickly adapt.

Gradually, Hopp stopped forcing herself to sit upright and instead let gravity take over, settling her entire body onto the stone slab.

"Phew~ it really seems to be working, just as expected from the Eldeen!"

Feeling the warm current from beneath her gradually relieving the pain, Hopp, much like the public intellectuals Karl had seen online in his past life, praised the Eldeen Reaches in every way possible.

Karl didn't bother to correct this misunderstanding.

People who liked the Eldeen were quite rare in other parts of the continent.

In fact, most people considered it a backward place.

Due to the Druids' professional nature of pursuing nature, some Druids in other regions of the continent were often radical environmentalists.

They vandalized farms, destroyed factories, and even forcibly killed livestock in pastures.

These barbaric acts, disseminated by the newspapers of various countries, had negatively impacted some people's perception of Druids.

Furthermore, because Druids used natural energy, they did not wear exquisite iron armor and weapons, so anything associated with Druids was often equated with "backwardness."

Of course, no one dared to openly slander the Eldeen on an official level.

The world's strongest Druid and the spiritual leader of the Eldeen, Ao'Lian, was rumored to possess a terrifying strength of level 40.

Moreover, the Eldeen single-handedly bore the task of continuously fighting against the Demon Wastes to the northwest of the Continent of Khorvaire.

More crucially, the Eldeen provided affordable and high-quality grain and various agricultural products to all countries worldwide.

If anyone bit the hand that fed them, the Eldeen would cease grain trade with that country.

Although various countries still retained a certain area of arable land, it was no match for the Eldeen's high-quality and stable-priced supplies.

As Karl and Hopp's situation gradually improved, the Dire Goblin team, still trudging through the torrential rain, continued their miserable journey.

All the food carried by the entire team had been completely soaked by the rain, and some people began to experience diarrhea symptoms after consuming the food.

By today, five of the Dire Goblins in the entire group had fallen behind.

"Chieftain! We need to hunt some Giant Lizards for food, the provisions we brought are inedible!"

Seeing the group dwindle, a Dire Goblin grabbed the Dire Goblin leader who was intent on moving forward and voiced his opinion.

After a moment's thought, the Dire Goblin chieftain, not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, accepted his subordinate's advice. He instructed his men to find a cave nearby, and then set off with a group of healthier Dire Goblins to hunt Giant Lizards and other animals.

In reality, the dried provisions the Dire Goblin group had brought were actually jerky made from Giant Lizard meat.

They themselves had mastered the techniques for raising Giant Lizards, and the output of Giant Lizard meat was even sufficient to meet the dietary needs of the entire tribe.

Of course, how could ordinary Goblins possibly qualify to share Giant Lizard meat alongside Dire Goblins and Hobgoblins?

Therefore, the ordinary Goblins left behind in the tribe's interior could only subsist on the not-so-tasty Bioluminescent Mushrooms and the refuse previously left by the Dire Goblins.

After walking a distance north from the cave, the Dire Goblin group quickly discovered a herd of wild Giant Lizards frolicking in the rain.

The leading Dire Goblin unslung the exquisitely crafted Great Axe from his back and then charged towards the herd of Giant Lizards.

The other Dire Goblins, following suit, took out their respective weapons. Surprisingly, even though these creatures acted like uncivilized savages from a primitive tribe, their weapons were all finely forged iron implements.

Occasionally, magical runes would light up as the weapons were swung. These were magical weapons capable of automatically repairing normal wear and tear and resisting the erosion of time.

Weapons like these should not, by any means, be possessed by such a group of Goblins.