Science Kingdom-The First Mission

Senku chewed the delicious roast meat, his eyes fixed on the open fire. Li Xiang ate quickly, finishing hers in just a few bites.

As a result, she nearly choked to death.

Senku cleared a place for Li Xiang to sleep that night. Only after everything was ready and she sat down to rest did she realize she still had no decent clothes to wear.

Hmm...

Boar hide was too prickly to wear. I really needed to make some cloth.

"Get some sleep. Good night."

"Good night." She closed her eyes, and time flew by. When she opened them again, a brand-new day had begun.

Senku woke to find Li Xiang already gone. Still bleary-eyed, he finally made the momentous decision to get up.

"Good morning, little Senku." Li Xiang stretched, yawning repeatedly. "Ugh, I'm exhausted."

"So, are we just going to... keep living like this?"

Senku tilted his head toward the clear sky, burning passion and ambition kindling in his eyes.

"No. I'm going to use all my scientific knowledge to save this entire ruined world, starting from scratch." His voice was firm.

"Rebuilding civilization from zero is ten billion percent exciting."

"Same here." Li Xiang lifted her head too, gazing out at the vast, deserted world as she softly agreed. "I really want to see for myself how a world starting from zero develops, step by step."

As her words faded, Senku abruptly stood.

"Starting today, I'm going to build a brand-new Science Kingdom with my own hands!"

The boy's declaration rang out, every word resolute, echoing through the empty woods.

He would wield science as his blade, cut through this desolation, save the petrified humanity, and restart a civilization interrupted for millennia.

At that thought, Senku's gaze suddenly darkened.

"And I'm going to find out exactly what attacked Earth back then, and who petrified all of humanity, sealing them away for thousands of years."

Thin clouds drifted across the high sky, and the wind rustled through the leaves.

"So, does that make us allies?"

Li Xiang met Senku's eyes. "Mm-hmm~ I'd certainly like to see whether this scientist can save the world."

"Kukuku. Just you wait."

But when Li Xiang drew her gaze back from the distance and looked at the high-spirited boy, she suddenly spoke, cutting through his fervor. "Still, compared to those lofty goals, there's something far more important and urgent right now."

Senku paused and turned toward her. "What?"

"I have no clothes to wear," Li Xiang said matter-of-factly.

Silence fell for a moment.

Senku blinked, instantly snapped back to his senses, and clapped his hands. "You're right! That really is our top priority. It's a serious problem!"

"All right! Then the first mission of our newly established Science Kingdom is to make clothes for Li Xiang and solve her wardrobe problem!"

With their goal set, Senku immediately switched into meticulous scientific planning mode and began explaining everything clearly.

"To make even the most basic cloth clothing, we need strong plant fibers. Plants like fire grass and fire felt grass are best suited to our current environment."

"These plants are incredibly hardy and especially favor volcanic environments. They often grow in dense patches on land left behind by volcanic eruptions."

Li Xiang immediately picked up on the key detail and raised an eyebrow. "Volcanoes? Is there a volcano near these woods?"

Senku lifted his chin, indicating the north.

Li Xiang looked in the direction he indicated. Beyond layer upon layer of trees, a massive mountain rose against the distant horizon, its outline clear and its peak flat. Its distinctive shape was unmistakable.

The moment she recognized the mountain, Li Xiang's eyes widened slightly.

Mount Fuji.

She was actually in Japan.

"Ten billion percent certain," Senku said confidently. "Now that we've identified our target area, all we need to do is gather enough fire felt grass."

Without further delay, the two set off toward the foot of the mountain to the north.

Fire felt grass covered the mountainside in abundance and was easy to harvest. Working together, they made several trips back and forth and soon gathered a large pile of whole plants covered in white fuzz, stacking them neatly in the clearing.

All their raw materials were ready.

Senku looked at the mountain of fire felt grass, then turned to Li Xiang beside him. "We've got all the materials. We can start processing them now."

"Spinning thread, weaving cloth, and making clothes aren't particularly complicated, but they require delicate work and an enormous amount of time and patience."

"But you're levelheaded and careful enough. This shouldn't be hard for you, right?"

Looking at the daunting pile of raw materials before her, Li Xiang gave a helpless, wry smile. "Let's hope so."

Senku then explained the entire traditional clothes-making process in detail.

The first step in making cloth was to sort the plants, carefully selecting mature fire grass whose leaf undersides were covered in fine white fuzz. These provided the highest-quality fibers.

Next, they had to pull the fuzz from the leaves bit by bit, gently twisting it as they went to form cotton thread of an even thickness. They would repeat the process until they had enough balls of thread.

The freshly spun thread was dry, stiff, and insufficiently resilient, so it needed to be soaked in clean water to soften it and improve its stretch and flexibility.

The most time-consuming part of the entire process, and the greatest test of patience, was weaving the cloth.

Without any machines to help, they could only rely on the most primitive handweaving methods, working on principles similar to knitting a sweater by hand.

But the cotton thread used for their clothes was several times finer than knitting yarn, requiring a denser weave and leaving very little room for error.

Every pass of the thread had to be done entirely by hand, stitch by stitch, little by little, demanding immense concentration and endurance.

With the explanation finished, the two officially got to work.

Day after day, Li Xiang sat quietly in the woods, repeating the dull, monotonous tasks of spinning thread, soaking it, weaving cloth, and tidying up.

Senku occasionally observed and took notes beside her, refining their process. Sometimes he helped sort the raw materials, but he spent most of his time keeping her company through the final work, waiting for the finished product.

Seven full days quietly slipped by amid the painstaking labor.

After a week, the labor-intensive handwoven cloth was finally finished.

Li Xiang set down her work and let out a long breath. Seven consecutive days of focused labor had drained much of her energy, but the sight of the two flat, sturdy pieces of finished cloth swept all her exhaustion away.

She cut the cloth simply and precisely to fit their proportions.

To suit life in the wilderness and make everyday movement, climbing, labor, gathering, and hunting easier, she deliberately kept the designs simple.

The tops were plain and fitted, following their bodies without excess bulk. The bottoms reached just to the knees, neat and lightweight, leaving them free to move.

She not only sewed an outfit for herself but also patiently made an identical one tailored to Senku's measurements.

With that, two brand-new sets of Fire Felt Grass Clothes were complete.

Obtained [Fire Felt Grass Clothes]

Item description: Fire Felt Grass Clothes have a thick, dense texture. Repeatedly compressed and woven by hand, they are exceptionally resistant to wear, sturdy, and durable. The natural properties of fire felt grass allow these clothes to retain warmth and keep out the cold in winter while remaining breathable and releasing heat in summer. Perfectly suited to the extreme conditions of the primitive wilderness, they are the best survival clothing currently available.

The two plain cloth outfits became the first new products created through handcraft and scientific knowledge alone since the birth of the Science Kingdom.