The New Pottery Kiln

Jian Mo observed his hand and nodded, saying, "The cleaning power is stronger now."

Jian Mo often says strange things, but everyone is used to it and can generally understand what he means.

Qing Kuo: "Make more, we've almost used up the last batch."

Jian Mo had no objections.

The orc De Jiang asked from the side, "Besides making soap, is there any other use for lye?"

De Jiang competed with Wu Jiong for the position of chieftain and now enjoys considerable prestige within the tribe.

Hearing his question, Jian Mo thought carefully for a moment and replied, "We can try firing pottery. Different minerals will produce different effects when used to prepare the glaze for pottery. Using alkali should also be able to produce some unique glazes."

Qing Kuo nodded in agreement. "That's good. Although it's frozen outside, it shouldn't be difficult to dig up some soil and fire pottery. Glazed pottery is so popular lately, even if we don't use it, it's good to trade it with other tribes."

Jian Mo thought it was feasible. He recently changed the fabric and made several sets of underwear for himself and Wu Jiong. They have now achieved basic freedom in changing clothes, and their quality of life is higher than before.

Besides the cloth, the stems, spices, and other items they exchanged were also of good quality.

If they make another batch of pottery, they should be able to exchange it for quite a few good things, in addition to using it themselves.

If we change some things, this winter will be easier.

Jian Mo: "Then let's go dig some mud later, and I'll see how to mix the glaze. We can try different glazes, some with the old glaze and some with the new glaze, so we won't have worked for nothing."

Qing Kuo: "That's a good idea."

Ban Ming, who was stirring vigorously beside him, said upon hearing this, "Jian Mo, you always say you're not the High Priest. If you're not the High Priest, how could you possibly have so much stuff?"

Jian Mo: "Yes, we learn a lot. Everyone in our area has to learn a lot of things."

Qing Kuo exclaimed, "Your place must be exceptionally nice."

Chapter 30 New Pottery Kiln

Pottery making has always been an important public affair in the tribe, and everyone was quite enthusiastic about starting it.

There wasn't much to do in winter, so everyone divided the work and cooperated.

The beastmen went to dig for clay, while the sub-beastmen made pottery blanks.

Jian Mo was assigned to the group of orcs. She sat in the open space of the tribe, basking in the sun with everyone and slowly working.

He wore animal skin gloves, which made working less uncomfortable.

Sitting here, you can hear gossip from various tribes, which is quite fun.

Just as Jian Mo was working while listening to gossip, Ban Ming and his team brought back several large baskets of soil.

Jian Mo was feeling drowsy and her mind wasn't quite sharp. Seeing this, she said, "Stop transporting. We already have enough clay; we won't use it all. Let's wait until it gets warmer before digging. Don't suffer like this in this cold."

Ban Ming, who was in the lead, was somewhat surprised and asked in a loud voice, "Is that enough?"

Upon hearing this, Qing Kuo looked up and said, "Almost there."

Jian Mo looked at the piles of dirt. "We can't finish it."

Qing Kuo smiled and said to him, "If you're going to build a kiln, you'll need to transport more clay."

Jian Mo then remembered and, holding the clay blank in her hands, said, "I knew we already had so much clay, why do we need to transport more?"

Everyone was laughing.

After a pause, Jian Mo said, "Actually, I wanted to say this last time. Burning things on flat ground every time is just too time-consuming and laborious."

Qing Kuo: "Then how else can we burn it?"

Jian Mo: "Jian kiln."

He used an unfamiliar term again, and everyone looked up at him.

Jian Mo knew what they were thinking, and before anyone could ask, she explained, "It's a space like a small house. When firing pottery, we put the pottery inside to maintain the temperature better."

Qing Kuo immediately realized. "Isn't that the same as sealing it with mud?"

Jian Mo: "Yes! That's the idea. It's just that we're changing from a one-time-use kiln to a long-term kiln. That way, we won't have to seal the pottery with so much clay every time. Plus, building a proper kiln will make firing pottery more efficient."

"It seems feasible."

"But if we build it, wouldn't it be just like building a house? It's also prone to collapse, right?"

"Our house is too big, that's why it's prone to collapsing. If we built a small kiln, it wouldn't collapse so easily."

"Do we need to build a hemispherical kiln? We usually shape our kilns into hemispherical shapes for firing, so will it be possible to build a hemispherical kiln?"

"It can't be built, can it? What about the roof?"

All the problems came crashing down on Jian Mo at once.

Jian Mo hesitated. He wasn't very familiar with architecture, but he remembered seeing kilns in books that were all hemispherical.

Just as everyone was looking at Jian Mo, Wu Jiong, who had been mostly silent, asked, "Can we just burn it inside the cave?"

Qing Kuo, puzzled, asked, "A cave?"

Jian Mo immediately understood Wu Jiong's thought process and said, "I think it's a good idea!"

The Flying-Winged Beast had previously fallen into a cave. If you make an opening in the top of a natural cave, it shouldn't be a big problem.

Moreover, the cave has been formed for so long, its stability should be stronger than that of ordinary pottery kilns they built.

Jian Mo looked at Wu Jiong, her eyes sparkling, and said, "That's a good idea. If we can find a suitable cave to modify, it'll be much simpler than us painstakingly building a pottery kiln directly."

The people around gradually understood and joined the discussion.

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be troublesome to give it a try?"

"It's just making a hole, right? I'll transform back into my beast form and dig a hole out with my two claws."

"Exactly, if all else fails, you can always bite it. Didn't you bite your house down when you were a kid?"

"Ban Ming! Do you think you didn't chew holes in houses when you were a kid?!"

The young orcs got into a heated argument and, ignoring the other sub-orcs nearby, transformed back into their beast forms and began attacking each other.

Jian Mo watched a large group of cats and dogs fighting from the sidelines, and she was quite certain that there were no sub-beastmen they liked here, otherwise they wouldn't be acting so childishly.